Lessons Learned
by Shortey83
Summary: SesshomaruXOC story (what else? . ) Borrowed elements from elder scrolls Skyrim involved. A mix of my favorite things. I'm bad at summaries, but I hope you like it!
1. Have a nice trip See you next Fall

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 1: Have a nice trip! See you next fall!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Summary: Set after Naraku's defeat, the Bone Eaters Well has brought another girl through, only this time it won't allow her to go home. What's a modern day girl to do 500 years in the past with only the few things she carried over.**

**Authors Note: Alright people I'm using ideas and lore from my favorite video game of all time! Skyrim (Which I do NOT own either) For those of you who don't know what it is it is an epic game in the elder scrolls series. While the story may have been on my mind for a while, certain elements hadn't pieced together until recently. Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**This story is one that has been PLAUGING my mind since before, My Dog, Sesshomaru, and I have finally set down to write it, but fear not! I'm am still writing for Heirlooms as well as My Dog, Sesshomaru.**

**Story Start:** It had been a few days since she last spoke with her father and since then, Takara had been trying desperately to locate the proper shrine. Tokyo was a big place with an abundance of shrines to say that she had her work cut out for her wouldn't be in accurate. "Let's hope this one is lucky number 21" she mumbled, trudging up the stair case.

For the past few days, she had been looking for a particular shrine to "make something disappear" as her father had put it, she just needed the one with an old well. However, she was fearing that her poor old father was going senile. Poor guy thought that throwing their family's old bow down the well would solve a bunch of problems; money problems, problems with bad luck, and more recently marriage problems. The marriage problems were hers though. Takara had been convinced that she lived in the modern age, but with all of the marriage proposals she was hearing about through her father, an arranged marriage had her feeling like she was living in the distant past.

"Arranged marriage? I mean really? Who does that anymore?" Takara mumbled as she reached the top of the stairs. Apparently the deal she had made with her father was that if she were to find the well and dispose of the bow, he wouldn't arrange a marriage between her and another but simply allow her out on her own. That promise is the only thing that kept her traveling from shrine to shrine.

At the top of the stairs, and elderly man was sweeping the courtyard of the shrine, humming a little tune to himself. "Excuse me," Takara interrupted his song "Would you happen to the keeper of this particular shrine?" The old man looked up to her and gave a wide smile "I would be indeed, young lady. How may I be of assistance?"

Takara kept her voice down and motioned the old man to lean closer. It seemed ridiculous to keep their conversation as hush hush as her father had warned her to, but she did as he told her. Giving her a strange look, the old man leaned in closer.

"I was told to ask about a well that you may have. A well that can…get rid of something for me…Make it disappear?" Takara whispered. To her surprise, the old man gave her a shocked look before asking "What is it that needs to vanish?" Takara hesitated. Every other shrine owner had just informed her that there were no wells on the grounds and asked her to leave.

"An old heirloom; My family's old bow and it's arrows." She whispered to the old man who looked around making sure there were no other visitors, and, to her vast relief, nodded. "Bring it up quickly, and into that building" He motioned to a little shack on the perimeter of the shrine. Without any hesitation, Takara hurried back down the stairs and to her car to grab the weapon. Waiting in her car as well was her best friend and constant companion, Kaos. His black head hung out the window of her car, and though he may have appeared board, his tail could be seen banging up and down against the back seat of the car.

"I think we may have hit the jackpot" Takara excitedly whispered, rubbing her hands behind his big ears before she opened the door to let him out. Finally she picked up the large bag that held the bow and its arrows, and placed her backpack on her back before she trudged back up the staircase. The weapon was bug and bulky but it seemed that it became lighter as she trudged up the stairs with it. _Must be gaining some extra muscles_ she thought, after all she had done this almost two dozen times over the past few days.

However, once she reached the top of the staircase, the weapon felt as if it were no more than a couple of pounds. _Strange…_ she thought as she hurried over to the building with Kaos hot on her heels. The old shrine keeper was standing at the door to the shrine which he had slid open. "This is the Bone Eaters well" he whispered "Legend has it that when the bones of demons where thrown into the well they would disappear." He eyed Takara, "I'm assuming your bow is indeed made of bone in order for you to be going through such trouble to trust a legend." Takara nodded, the bow was indeed made up of bones as were the arrowheads.

Slowly she entered the old building, not out of fear for how foreboding it may have seemed, but because it looked like it could collapse on her head at any minute. Carefully she made her way down the creaky old stairs and peeked into the dark edges of the well. It didn't appear to be anything more than a dry, old well. Perhaps this shrine keeper and her father were in cahoots with one another. "Proud members of the Senile Gentleman's Club…" she whispered, as she moved the bow to hold it over the well. Before she could release it, though the old man yelled something.

Just as Takara turned, a small furry ball came flying at her with a hiss as Kaos leapt after it. A cat! That was just her luck! Kaos hated cats! The cat landed, claws extended on her backpack, pushing her towards the well, before it used her as a springboard to fling itself away from Kaos' snapping jaws. Then both her and Kaos were falling headfirst into the well. With a scream, Takara braced for impact, but it never came as a bright purple light surrounded both herself, and Kaos, whose collar she had managed to grab on the way down. It was then as if they were both gently set down. Takara took a minute then to attempt to calm her fast beating heart. However, when she looked up and her eyes met bright sky instead of dingy roof, a bad feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

She had never heard the cracking of the roof, so there was no way it had fallen down. She would have heard that over her own screams… at least that was what she thought. Kaos however, seemed unfazed by the turn of events. He was still trying to find the cat that had knocked them down here in the first place. Either way she had to get out of the well. She didn't do very good with small, dark places. The vine covered walls were already starting to close in on her. She paused. There most certainly hadn't been any vines in the well when she first fell in. With her panic rising, she didn't ponder that anymore as she began to climb. She still had to figure a way to get Kaos out of the well.

Once she struggled over the rim of the well she was positive something had indeed happened. There was no shrine, no buildings, and way too many trees. She was most certainly not in the same place anymore. Regardless, she needed to figure out a way to get Kaos out of the well. She searched the small clearing for something to pull him out with or help him climb up but to no avail. By now he was starting to whine. He was beginning to figure out that he was stuck.

"Easy boy," she crooned to him as she peeked into the well. "I'll get you out, somehow…" She just wasn't sure how she was going to do that. Her mind racing, she hurried over to the nearby trees and tore some of the long vines from them. She sat on the edge of the well so he could see her and so she could talk to him. He calmed and laid his big head on his paws, waiting for her to get him out.

She took three long strands of vine and braided them together, making a makeshift rope out of them, trying to make them long enough to reach down into the well. It took her about an hour to weave the vines together and get two halfway decent ropes out of them. Swallowing her fears, Takara swung her other leg down and climbed down into the well. She was in a near panic by the time she reached the bottom. Being claustrophobic was not in her favor at present as her hands trembled trying to loop one rope through metal loop in Kaos' collar and tied another one just in front of his back legs so as not to choke him while pulling him out of the well.

"Stay" she commanded, holding her hand up to show him that he wasn't to move as she tied the other ends of the ropes to her belt loops and scrambled up the well. The ropes weren't quite long enough and she had to stretch to grip the lip of the well. It wasn't easy hauling herself and Kaos' weight up, but once she made her way across the wells brim, she gripped the ropes and pulled.

She loved her dog, she really did. Takara hand managed to pull him to the very top of the well, and what was he doing? ; looking at her with his tail wagging. Happy-go-lucky was the very definition of his nature at times. She almost laughed at how silly he looked in the situation he was in, but she focused on hauling him over the side. "I must report to Captain Ahab. I think I just hauled in Moby Dick's brother…" she panted as she fell over on her back, trying to catch her breath from the exertion.

She closed her eyes to the bright sun high overhead, only to be assaulted by a long wet tongue in her face. She pushed Kaos and his tongue away and sat up to untie him from the vines, with the exception of the one around his collar, just to be sure there were no more cats around for him to chase. Not too far off in the distance a loud crash echoed in the trees followed by a few loud voices. Picking up the bag with the bow in it, she slung it over her shoulder and headed towards the sound of the crash.

After a few minutes the voices became more distinct; a man and a woman arguing, but she couldn't quite make out the words. She advanced once the voiced lowered and peeked through some bushes. Whoever they were, they knew she was there because they were starring right were she was hiding. The woman seemed to be around her age with dark hair and eyes, dressed in an old timing priestess' clothing with a bow and arrows strapped to her back.

While she was truly surprising to see it was the man she had been arguing with that surprised her. His kimono was a shocking red color all over that made his silver white hair stand out. He narrowed his eyes at her direction, his beautiful amber eyes, but what tested her sanity were his two dog like ears on top of his head.

"We know you're there." He yelled in her direction, "You might as well come out" Takara wasn't so sure it was a good idea, but once they drew their weapons, she didn't really see much of a choice. Holding Kaos' makeshift leash behind her, Takara stepped out to meet these two strangely dressed people.

She saw both of their eyes widen as she stepped out of the clearing with her dog and gave them a weak smile. Before she even had a chance to greet them, the woman spoke "You're from my time!"

_From her TIME?..._ That didn't sound good to Takara. _What have I gotten myself into?_


	2. No turning back

**Lessons Learned**

**Author: Shortey 83**

**Chapter 2: No turning back**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start: **

Takara sat in the hut that belonged to the woman, Kagome, and the man, InuYasha listening as they attempted to explain what had transpired in their previous adventures and what the well really was. She learned the most from Kagome but that was probably because her husband was trying to figure out Kaos. Kagome took the time to explain how she had chosen to stay here with InuYasha after their group defeated the evil half-demon, Naraku. In that time, Takara also discovered that InuYasha's father had been a great dog demon and his mother a human, making InuYasha a half-demon.

_Well that explains why he is having such a good time with Kaos_ She thought, making herself giggle as Kaos, nose to nose with InuYasha, suddenly licked the half-demon's face. "You might want to watch out for him, InuYasha." She giggled as he wiped his face on his sleeve. "Kaos is kind of a kisser."

"Now she tells me…" he grumbled sitting back up and rejoining the conversation.

"What I don't understand," Takara began "Is why I wasn't let back through the well when I climbed back down to get Kaos. Shouldn't it have taken us back?" Kagome shrugged her shoulders, "I honestly don't know. I was separated from InuYasha for three years because of my feelings. I was scared and sad that I had upset my family and the well finally opened up when I set my heart on staying with InuYasha." She leaned over and gave her husband's hand a squeeze and a tender look. "I decided to stay with him, and now I'm here. I don't know why the well wouldn't let you back through."

"I was scared to go back down" Takara admitted "I've got problems with claustrophobia. I was dreading reaching the bottom." Kagome nodded and she seemed to think about that for a few minutes. "Perhaps that may have something to do with it, but we still have to figure out why the well let you through in the first place. What were you doing before at the shrine?"

It was Takara's turn to do some explaining as the couple listened to the much shorter tale that she had to tell.

"So perhaps this has something to do with the bow." InuYasha suggested "We should probably take a look at it." Takara nodded and opened the pouch were the arrows sat in their quiver and set them aside before she unzipped the bag and took the large bow. It was still light as a feather, but as soon as she handed it to InuYasha, it became heavier, cashing through the floor boards along with the half demon's hand. Takara and Kagome both jumped back in shock while InuYasha let out a howl of pain, releasing the bow. "What the hell?" He asked, bending over to pick up the bow, but he couldn't lift it. "Let me try" Takara bent down and lifted the bow as if it was nothing.

All three of them stood in silence, looking at the bow. It was a dull shade of white (it was made from bones after all), not in the shape of traditional Japanese bows, but instead it dipped in the middle, more in the shape of a modern day bow. The bow itself was hard, with a few spikes that looked like teeth adorning the face of the bow. The metal grip of the bow appeared to be made of some dark metal with strange runes etched onto its surface. The top and bottom limb of the bow looked more like joints with a tooth on the very top of the upper limb and the very bottom of the lower limb. As far as the bowstring went, it didn't look or feel like anything Takara had ever known.

"I don't like this one bit" InuYasha got out. He may have been embarrassed that he didn't have the strength to hold the bow where Takara did, but she didn't blame him.

"I agree the thing gives me the creeps. I think that's why my father wanted to get rid of it so bad." She shivered wondering if that was why her father had paled on the sight of her holding it. It seemed not everyone was able to lift it.

Before any more talks of the bow could be done, an elderly lady walked in accompanied by a little girl. "Hello Kaede" Kagome greeted the old woman "I think we have a bit of a mystery on our hands." With that she motioned to Takara. "I see" the woman stated, the one eye not covered by a patch widening slightly. "Perhaps there is some purpose for you in this age as well"

And so the rest of the day was spent by the group showing Takara around the village. It seemed that she would be staying with the old priestess Kaede until they figured out what her purpose in this age was. The little girl who had been with Kaede at the hut had introduced herself as Rin. She was such a sweet child, so carefree and fun loving that it was contagious. At first, Rin had been a bit frightened by Kaos, thinking that he was a wolf, but once Takara had introduced Rin to Kaos' favorite toy that was packed in her backpack she had worn Rin pretty much fell in love. While they waited for two more people to introduce to her, Miroku and Sango were their names, Rin and Takara took Kaos to the open field near the village to play.

"Alright Rin, here's what you do" Takara began, holding out the stick that was used to throw his ball. She showed it to Rin as Kaos jumped up and down excitedly, waiting for her to throw the ball. "Now watch me." With that she flung the ball as far as she could for Kaos to chase. Rin giggled as the dog dove for the ball and hurriedly ran it back for it to be thrown again.

"Your turn" She handed both the stick and the ball covered in dog drool to Rin. "Eww" she made a face but put the ball into the stick like she had been shown. Takara got behind her and helped her fling the ball. Again she squealed as Kaos ran for the ball, giggling as he tripped over his own feet to get it before bringing it back to Rin. This time she didn't even flinch at picking up the dirty, sticky, drool coated ball.

It wasn't too long later that Sango and Miroku arrived with their three children in tow. The twins giggled in excitement as they watched Rin play with the dog, while the youngest slept soundly in Sango's arms. "I'm surprised the well let you through" Miroku stated, taking his son from Sango. "After what happened with Kagome, we thought it sealed for sure." Takara nodded in agreement. It did seem strange to her as well.

InuYasha and Kagome then explained what had happened with the bow becoming too heavy for InuYasha to hold, and the group all grew quiet in wondering. Each of them running different possibilities through their heads. "Well I know this," Kaede began "An empty stomach will mean an empty head. Perhaps we should share a meal and allow our minds to wander afterwards." The group nodded and Takara called in the children and Kaos as they all strolled towards Kaede's hut. Sango and Miroku took their children to another couples home for them to watch before heading back to Kaede's hut. A good meal of rice and vegetables was served with a little meat to go with it. Takara gave her meat to Kaos and settled with the rice and veggies. She was worried about feeding him, but everyone gave up a few scraps for him to have until he laid his black furry body against her side and fell asleep.

Rin made her way over too after she had eaten and snuggled up to the sleeping dog and laid her head on his side, falling asleep not too long after laying down. Takara reached down and unconsciously stroked the girls head as she listen to the group discuss the possibilities of finding out why she was here. They focused first on ways to discover her purpose, hopefully one that could be fulfilled soon to allow her to go home.

In order to do that, they all agreed on one thing. They needed to pay a visit to Totosai and hope that he could offer up a few clues about the weapon.

"Who is Totosai?" Takara questioned finally.

"He's the sword smith that forged Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga" Kagome explained motioning to InuYasha "InuYasha's sword is Tetsusaiga and InuYasha's brother Sesshomaru has the Tenseiga. They are both powerful swords given to them by their father." Takara nodded and listened as Kagome explained the capabilities of each sword in fascination. While it seemed like magic and impossible, what had it been when her bow became too heavy for InuYasha? That had happened. What was to say that these swords couldn't do what she claimed for them to? Takara wasn't the type of person who needed too much convincing. She analyzed. She looked at the situations around her, looked at what was happening in detail and accepted what she couldn't explain. It was that simple.

What point was there in denying what she had witnessed with her own eyes? To say she was difficult to get along with would have been a lie. She was a very soft spoken, gentle, and kind person and was in no way violent, mean spirited, or rough. It took a lot to make her angry, a fact that she prided herself in as well as her ability to keep a cool head. Takara hated fighting and violence and avoided it all costs. However, she wasn't naïve enough to believe that she would never have to take measures to defend herself or another person. Her father had made sure she understood that. The youngest of nine children and the only girl, her older brothers had schooled her in self-defense although with eight big older brothers, they were the only ones she had to worry about defending herself against.

Even though her mother had passed away when she was only two, her father made sure that she was "his little princess". She had her rough patches, how could she not being raised by all men. If she had questions about girl issues, then she would go and visit her grandmother, her mother's mother. Other than that she was left to deal with her brothers.

They had feared for her at first, although she was so young, she had taken her mother's death hard so her father and brothers scarred of losing her made sure that to ensure that she felt loved and cherished as a daughter and a sister.

Some saw her gentle nature as a weakness, while others saw it as her strength. She remembered one day she had come home from school, her dress ripped, dirty from being pushed over, and her hair a mess from being pulled in tears because the boys had been mean to her. Her father had asked if she wanted her brothers to get the boys back for her but it had only made her cry more. "I don't want them hurt," she had cried "I just don't want them to be mean anymore." She had cried herself to sleep that night, afraid her brothers would go back for revenge, but the next day at school, the boys who had bullied her were being bullied themselves. An older kid was stealing their lunch money. It made her mad and she walked up to the bigger kid and tapped his shoulder. As soon as he turned around, she did as her dad showed her and punched the kid right in his chest as hard as she could knocking the wind out of him. He dropped the kids' lunch money, and Takara grabbed it up and ran, yelling at the other boys to follow her, which they did.

Takara smiled at that memory, perhaps she hadn't needed to punch the older bully, but she just reacted. After she defended them, the three boys who had bullied her and Takara had become best friends. Jun, Kai, and Ken had become some of the nicest guys in school, but some of the toughest. She had rubbed off on them somewhere along the way. It hurt her to think that she would never see them again. As far as her family went that hurt even worse, but she didn't want these strangers to see her cry. She blamed her father. He should have told her what he was thinking, or at least what he had gotten himself into. It may have made things easier to be separated from them. With a determined nod, she agreed that tomorrow they would seek out this Totosai.


	3. Life is full of Surprises

**Lessons Learned**

**Author: Shortey 83**

**Chapter 3 – Life is indeed full of Surprises**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

The first night sleeping in an unfamiliar place hadn't gone over too well with Takara. It was spent mostly tossing and turning with thoughts of what could and would happen as well as wondering if anything could have been done differently to change her current circumstances. Then she wondered, despite her loneliness if she would. Life had just offered her a chance at adventure and there she lay doubting herself. She decided late into the warm summer night, that she would embrace this curve ball life had tossed her way no matter what.

**In the Western Lands…**

Sesshomaru stood out on the balcony to his chambers starring out into the starry night, deep in thought. The moon was full, reminding him of many years past. He knew that the world thought him cold and unfeeling, but there had been once- once when he felt freely and… He stopped his thoughts the best he could. The pain of that loss still ran as deep as it always had. It was like a fresh wound to his chest when he allowed himself to revisit those memories. How many times had he starred at the full moon, waiting for a change that would never come, a caress he would never again feel? Too many he decided and resigned himself to the fact that he would continue to do so. Power had been his escape from the pain, the more power he acquired, the more land he conquered, and the more foes he destroyed, the more it numbed the pain and left him cold.

Despite his best efforts, his mind wandered back to the days, many, many summers ago when he was young.

Having just mastered his abilities to fly in secret, Sesshomaru escaped his tutor's lessons. He allowed himself to free fall from the staggering heights of his mother's floating castle above the clouds, letting the wind rush past him. His mother would be busy in her chambers and his father was currently away from the palace leaving no one to catch him slipping out as he neared the ground he slowed his decent and landed softly in a forest. From the scent of things, there weren't any demons nearby, however, there were faint traces of humans, one sweet one in particular that drew him towards it.

"My Lady!" Someone shouted, making the trees and bush shake noisily as they passed through them. It was an older human woman, she seemed to be looking for someone. Sesshomaru hid behind a tree and watched as the woman ran off in a different direction, still looking for her young mistress while Sesshomaru continued to search for the sweet smelling human. Her scent was strong and yet he couldn't find her. That's when it hit him. Someone had tossed an apple and it hit him right on the head. He grabbed his head where the apple had hit him and didn't react fast enough to move out of the way of the figure jumping out of the tree in front of him.

"What are you doing, demon?" It was a little human girl dressed in a light pink kimono, her raven hair falling down her back freely. She wasn't much shorter than he was, but then again he was still a pup. "You aren't supposed to be here." She said, her face in a pout.

Sesshomaru dropped his hand to his side and clenched his fist. "How dare you speak to me that way, human?" he demanded "I go where I please." He had to admit that he wasn't expecting the little human girl to ball up her fist and hit him in the face and knock him down. "You better leave" she threatened him "I said you're not supposed to be here." Sesshomaru was a little stunned for a minute, unable to reply before he quickly stood back up. "You shouldn't be here either if that servant woman was looking for you." He argued taking a step towards her, but she balled up both fists and took on a defensive stance.

Sesshomaru took his time looking the girl over, he wasn't an expert but this human girl appeared to be around the same age as he, perhaps eight or nine winters. Her raven black hair was almost half way down her back, and her eyes were a bright blue that stood out against the dark tresses that escaped her face. She was small but fierce. "This is my father's land. I can be where I want to be, and right now I don't want to be at my lessons which is why I'm here." That caught Sesshomaru by surprise and he smiled. "Then perhaps I should be here too because I'm avoiding my lessons too." The girl looked surprised at that, but slowly lowered her fists as she looked him over. Then she gave him a wide smile. "You are in the right place for that, then. My name's Kimiko. What's yours?" "Sesshomaru"

From then on, Sesshomaru snuck out of his mother's palace whenever his father wasn't there to catch him although he had a feeling his father knew he was up to something. Sesshomaru's mother may not have cared that he was sneaking out of his lessons , but his father did.

Once he had been caught, sneaking back into the palace and scolded by his father. His father had mentioned how he smelled of human but he didn't press Sesshomaru for answers, he simply warned him to quit sneaking out of his lessons and allowed him to have one day every seven to go and do whatever it was when he left the castle.

For a few years after, Sesshomaru would meet Kimiko in the woods on the outskirts of her father's palace. The two of them hardly noticed how the years flew by, but as usual with a male and a female, they slowly became more aware of the other. Kimiko had grown into a beautiful human woman, her long raven hair reaching past the curve of her hips. Her face went from child to woman in what seemed like no time to Sesshomaru. Her high cheekbones, cute little nose, and cherry lips were pretty, but her bright blue eyes, framed with long dark eyelashes drew him every time.

Sesshomaru wouldn't forget the day he had been bold enough to plant a kiss on her soft lips, nor how eagerly she returned his affections. He would also never forget the day he found her in their usual spot, her face stained by tears and her blue eyes red from crying. Her father had planned to have her married off, and Sesshomaru wouldn't allow her father to take **his** woman.

He asked her to meet him there the next night and she agreed without hesitation. That night Sesshomaru sought out his father and told him that he would be leaving the palace and not returning. It was then he revealed his love for Kimiko to his father and his plans to steal her away. He had expected rage from his father for his wanting a human for his, but he later came to realize that his father didn't share the same dislike towards humans. He only warned him to be careful and always guard his woman.

The next night, Sesshomaru had whisked Kimiko away under the cover of night, unhindered, and brought her to the little cabin deep in the mountains when he wanted to escape his mother. That night he had taken her as his, the night between them filled with the sounds of their lovemaking and their passion. Each night they sat out on the porch of their little home after he had prepared a meal for her and watched the night sky. Sesshomaru had whisked her away on the night of a full moon, and each full moon she had insisted that they make love in its glow. Sesshomaru had never known such happiness. He wasn't sure which had been the better. The night when she told him that she was with his child or the night she had given birth to their daughter, Asami.

That happiness had been stolen from him not even a full moon cycle later. It seemed that Kimiko's father had never given up his search for his lost daughter and he had found her while Sesshomaru had been away hunting. He felt her fear through their connection and rushed back towards their home. He would never forget the sound of her screams as they echoed down the mountain, nor the smell of the smoke that filled his nose. When he entered the clearing, her screams had died, and their home had been reduced to nothing but a pile of burning wood. Her father sat atop his horse watching the home where his daughter burned with her child and it was in that instant Sesshomaru came to despise humanity as the pain and rage of his loss surged through him leaving him cold and unfeeling as he butchered the army her father had brought, leaving him for last as he tore the bastard's heart out. He had failed his love and avenged her and in that instant, he vowed to never again allow humans cause him such pain. If he hated them and if he didn't love them, then they could no longer harm him.

Presently Sesshomaru sighed and pushed back the memories of his child and the human woman he had dared to love and lost. Had she only known how to defend herself perhaps she could have escaped, but then again she was but a mere human woman. What could she have done? It was too late to worry about the past though. It was not within his awesome powers to change. Even Tenseiga had not been forged yet. This pain would not consume him. With those thoughts, Sesshomaru headed inside out of the full moon's haunting glow.

The following day, Takara waited just outside the village with Rin and Kaos for InuYasha to return with this Totosai person. In between bouts of Rin playing games with Kaos, she would sit with Takara and tell her about her own adventures with Sesshomaru, InuYasha's older brother. It seemed like this Sesshomaru person was nice enough to Rin, but seemed to be cold towards everyone else. She would also talk about her secret infatuation with Kohaku, Sango's younger brother but made Takara promise not to tell a soul which she vowed she wouldn't.

At other times Rin would bring the flowers that were in bloom over for them to make crowns and necklaces out of while singing little songs about Sesshomaru. Takara had to admit then and there that she wished she had been lucky enough to have a little sister as cute as Rin. She was a sweet girl with a heart of gold. It was no wonder she had managed to find her way into a cold demon's heart.

It was about mid-day when InuYasha returned with a strange looking old man, dressed in green rags, riding a bull with three eyes. This was apparently the master sword smith Totosai. "Pleased to meet you, Master Totosai" Takara greeted him with a polite bow. "I must say" the sword smith began "You're awful nice to be around this one" He pointed back to InuYasha, who then hit the old guy over the head. "Yeah, Yeah… How about you stop blabbing and take a look at that bow of hers." InuYasha grumbled, his fist still balled at the smith who rubbed his head.

"Let's have a look then" he said holding out his hand. Takara picked up the bow and held it out to him, but she didn't release it. Totosai gave her a question look "I won't steal it, if that's what you're thinking" he assured her. "That's not the problem" she blushed in embarrassment. She must have appeared really attached to the weapon. "It's just that it seems to be too heavy for anyone but me to hold." She explained. Totosai nodded "I consider myself warned, so go ahead and release it so I may see for myself." Takara hesitated but did as the old, demon smith bade and as soon as her fingers left the weapon, it fell heavily to the ground, taking the smith with it. He looked at it confused for a moment before he tried to lift it again, to no avail. "You were indeed wise in calling me here, InuYasha" The smith finally got out. Totosai then looked back to Takara with instructions to pick the bow up where he could better examine it.

He was silent as he studied the runes and the make of the bow before he spoke again. "Can you use this?" Takara shrugged. "I never tried. I was just trying to get rid of it when we found out I was the only one who could hold it." The smith seemed to mull over her words before he spoke again. "Put on the quiver and see if you can fire it." He looked behind him. "Aim for that tree with the low hanging branch." With those instructions he moved behind her along with everyone else.

Takara placed the quiver on her back, and drew an arrow before looking back at everyone. "Just so you all know, you're not allowed to laugh at my failure because I've never shot one of these before." At that Kagome came up and showed her how to hold the bow and explained the basics of firing a shot. With a nod, Takara put an arrow against the bowstring. This was going to be the fun part, the bowstring and the bow itself didn't look like it had any give. She probably wouldn't even be able to pull it back, but she tried anyways. Taking a deep breath, Takara lifted the bow with the arrow firm against the bowstring and prayed as she pulled back. To her shock the bow gave way to her efforts and she took aim. She saw her target and released the arrow. It flew straight and fast, right to the point where she had been aiming.

"Nice shot" Kagome complimented. "I honestly think that was beginner's luck" Takara admitted to her.

"Well give it another go, and see" Totosai urged.

Takara gave him a nod and aimed just above the first arrow and again hit her mark, shocking herself again. "Impressive, now go and retrieve your arrows." But as Takara moved to fetch her arrows they disappeared and Kagome gasped. "They're back in your quiver!" Sure enough, when she turned to look and counted her arrows, she had twenty four again.

"What were you thinking right before they disappeared?" The old smith asked her, moving closer to get a better look at her arrows. "I was just thinking about how I didn't want to walk all the way over there to get them." She giggled. How convenient that she didn't have to worry about fetching her own arrows. Totosai nodded and sat down, looking like he was thinking hard about something. Takara and everyone else sat down too as they waited for him to answer. In the meantime Kaos had turned into a lap dog, or at least he must have thought he was one as he moved and put his furry rump right in her lap. "I'm sorry. Were you sitting here?" she asked, reaching up and gently tugging at the skin on each side of his head while he panted from running around with Rin. He eventually moved to lay down, not moving his butt from her lap while doing so.

Everyone laughed at him. "He's quite a character, isn't he?" Kagome laughed while moving over to pet him. "You have no idea. He's quite a lover too. I probably should have named him Casanova." Kagome cocked her head to the side "How come?" Takara leaned forward and drummed a little on his sides before she looked over. "Call him over to you for a second" Kagome got to her knees and patted them. "Come here Kaos" she called him. He got up and went over to her and sat beside her with a paw on her lap.

"Kaos" He turned his big black head towards her "Does she want the kisses?" It was so sweet how he cocked his head to the side before he wagged his tail. "Give her the kisses." No sooner did she say the words then Kaos was licking Kagome's face insistently. Breaking out into a fit of giggles, Kagome fell back laughing, Kaos following her the whole way until she rolled onto her stomach to hide her face, but that didn't stop him from licking her neck and ears first on one side before he jumped over to the other side. Takara gave him a few more minutes before she called him off. Kagome sat up still giggling as Kaos walked away.

Takara winked at her before she gasped. At her gasp Kaos stopped and sat, putting his ears back and looked at her with big, sad brown eyes. He looked so guilty. "Kaos…"she teasingly scolded "How could you?" He gave is tail a little wag as he looked at her. "You should be ashamed of yourself…" she told him and he put his head down and a paw over his muzzle… looking ashamed indeed. She had taught him that trick when he kept chewing up her dad's shoes. Who could possibly look at that and not forgive him? The group laughed and Kaos made his way back to Takara and she hugged his fluffy body. This is why he was her best friend. He always made her laugh even if he didn't understand how happy he made her.

"Well, I believe I know what we're dealing with here" Totosai finally spoke up. Everyone turned their attention back to the smith. "That is a dragon bone bow and those are dragon bone arrows." He revealed. "What's that mean, old man?" InuYasha demanded. Totosai cleared his throat and began.

"As you all are probably aware of, dragons are not mortal creatures, not demons, and yet they are not gods. They are however, children of the earth. They are creatures of the elements, fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. Creatures not to be trifled with for the simple fact that no matter how many times you destroy a dragon, you cannot kill it. At least most people can't." Totosai paused and Sango spoke up. "What do you mean they can't be destroyed? My village had slain several dragons in its time." Totosai nodded in agreement. "That may be true, but where you destroyed the dragon's body, you didn't truly slay it. You see the only way to truly destroy a dragon is by destroying its soul. Even if the body dies, the dragon can be reborn in no time within its element. For example, if the dragon was a water dwelling being, its soul would only need to find water for it to be reborn."

"So what does any of this have to do with Takara and her bow?" InuYasha asked. That was what she had been wondering herself.

The old demon looked to Sango. "What did your village do with the bones of the dragon's it slayed?" Sango thought for a moment. "Nothing because they disappeared when we killed the dragon; they returned to whatever element the dragon was." Totosai nodded. "That is exactly my point because you never truly destroyed them." He pointed an old boney finger at Takara. "That bow was forged by someone who had the power to destroy a dragon's soul and I'm willing to bet my life that you are able to do the same." Takara starred at him wide eyed in shock.

"How would she go about doing that, Master Totosai?" Miroku asked.

"It's simple, when she slays a dragon, she will absorb its soul into her own. To put it simple she is a mortal being with the soul of an immortal dragon."

Takara's head was spinning with so many questions she felt she might faint. "Slay a dragon?"  
She asked "I had a hard time flushing my goldfish when it died. How do you expect me to slay a dragon?"

Kagome giggled "Did you really?" and Takara nodded. "Yeah I cried too. It was pathetic, but that still doesn't answer why I am able to hold and use it."

"Of course it does. You see, with the power to absorb a dragon's soul you hold the unique ability to handle a weapon made from the bones of a truly defeated being. I'm not telling you to go out and slay them without cause. I'm telling you that you have the ability to protect others from them. Not all dragons are menacing creatures bent on death. There are as many peaceful ones as there are fierce ones." The pointed towards the bow again. "You see the beauty of that weapon is that it is able to determine the will of your foes. During battle, if your foe truly means to harm another out of an evil desire, it will allow you to fire it. However, if your foe has no intention of causing true harm it will not allow you to fire it. Of course it may be used to hunt game, but as far as using it as a weapon, it will never allow you to falter from an unjust path." He stood up and approached Takara, who sat taking in all he had said. He ran an old finger along the bowstring. "That is possible because of this." He told her, still stroking the bowstring. "This, my dear, is a dragon's heart string which is how the bow is able to determine good and bad intentions. It will not lead you astray."

He looked her in the eyes as he spoke again. "You have the ability to absorb a dragon's soul but you also possess a gentle and forgiving heart. That is why only you are able to hold and wield the bow as a weapon. While it may be able to attack, it was made to defend and protect. That was the task you were given. It doesn't mean you have to seek out dragons to destroy them so you can stop worrying about that."

Takara let out the breath she had been holding. "That's a relief, but I guess if I get word of a dragon attack, I'm supposed to investigate huh?"

The old smith nodded and gave her a pat on the head. "Yes, but don't worry. There aren't many reports of dragon attacks typically." With that the old man stood and jumped up on his cow and began to leave. "I would suggest getting some battle practice though. Remember your target was a tree and those don't move." He called back over his shoulder leaving the group with many questions that he wasn't able to answer.


	4. New developments meet old wounds

**Lessons Learned**

**Author: Shortey 83**

**Chapter 4 – New developments meet Old wounds**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

The next few weeks passed by in a blur and while Takara hadn't left the village in search of dragons, a few rumors began to circle through the village as travelers passed through of attacks in other areas; Dragon attacks. She had felt herself growing close to InuYasha but that was probably because he reminded her of her brothers. He knew how to push her buttons, but at the same time she always had fun with him and Kagome around. Miroku and Sango were also a big help in her training as well as learning household chores. While she already had some fighting experience with sparring with her brothers, it was nice to practice with someone who wasn't careful not to leave a bruise for fear of her father.

As far as Rin went though, Takara was never happier than when the two of them were together. They spent their time helping Kaede growing and picking herbs and in her spare time they were gathering flowers, playing with Kaos (who had stolen the hearts of all the village women), and at night star gazing until the little girl fell asleep. She was the little sister Takara had always wanted but never had. She was even teaching the little girl a few techniques on self-defense, a little Tai Chi. Poor Miroku and InuYasha got to be her practice dummies. Takara had even met Rin's secret love, Kohaku on one of his rare visits to the village to see Sango. She had also met Shippou the little fox demon on one of his visits. He was quite the little charmer and Takara suspected that he may have a little bit of attraction towards Rin. But then again, who wouldn't? She had an adorable face and the sweetest personality.

According to Rin, it was getting close to the time Sesshomaru would come and visit her. Apparently he came to visit her once a month to bring her a new kimono, comb, or something that she may need. Rin looked forward to his visits.

Takara and Rin had been making their way back into the village for lunch with an armful of flowers for Kagome and Sango when Rin suddenly stopped and gasped. Takara looked to the girl to see what had startled her, but the girl pointed ahead of her. Looking at where her finger excitedly pointed was a white blur moving to land in the village. "Lord Sesshomaru is here!" The girl screamed happily jumping up and down. "Hand me your flowers Rin and I'll carry them back so you can go see him." She offered to the little girl, who hurriedly agreed, quickly handing over the mass of white flowers to Takara and took off down the hill as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Watching her with a laugh, Takara continued her casual stroll down the hill, her arms now full of flowers. While she was eager to meet this 'Lord Sesshomaru' Rin always spoke about, she had heard that he wasn't too fond of humans so it wasn't like their meeting would make too many waves or anything. And so, she kept her steady pace into the village, smelling one of the many white lilies they had picked, all the while her mind wandering to the rumors of dragon attacks and if she would be asked to fight anytime soon. She hoped not.

Upon entering the village, she noticed Rin clinging to a tall man whose silver white hair matched InuYasha's. From behind she could only see his hair and a huge fluffy… thing draped over his shoulder. Rin was rambling excitedly like she usually was to him talking about everything she could think of as fast as she could say it between breaths. Quietly she entered Kaede's hut and dropped off about half of the flowers that she carried and brought the rest outside with her, making her way to a bench beneath an old oak tree to sit. She had walked back behind Sesshomaru since she noticed that InuYasha and Kagome were making their way towards him. She had heard that InuYasha and his brother often got into fights and she didn't want to be in the way when one started so she merely took a seat on the bench and began weaving the flowers together for Rin.

She took the time to look Sesshomaru over and at first glance, her breath caught in her throat. Handsome somehow didn't do him justice. He was a living breathing, demon Adonis. She could make out two magenta stripes on his handsome face and she could also see that his eyes were the same color as InuYasha's. InuYasha and Kagome simply stood there and waited for Rin to finish talking to Sesshomaru or according to Kagome, for him to give Rin a gift, which would quiet the girl for a few minutes. By the time Takara had finished two necklaces and was on to her third, Sesshomaru finally presented Rin with a small comb. She thanked him for about thirty more seconds before she finally ran into the hut to put the comb into her hair or away; whichever she decided.

InuYasha used that time to speak with Sesshomaru about the dragon rumors and if he had heard anything about them, but as soon as Sesshomaru made some comment about InuYasha's being a half demon, did said half demon draw his sword. Not wanting them to fight, least of all in the village, Takara set down her loose flowers and took the crown and necklaces she had made over to InuYasha. Before he could stop her, she draped the flowers around his neck and placed the crown on his head. "Alright, InuYasha, use your deadly flower power!" Takara giggled, patting him on his cheeks. It was then Rin walked out of the hut and started giggling herself. "InuYasha is so pretty!" Takara laughed as she walked back over to the bench and gathered up more flowers and went back to work. "Takara…" InuYasha growled in irritation while the females laughed.

"What? I would seriously run away from you if you came after me looking like that. I would be laughing so hard I wouldn't be able to breathe." She pointed her finger at him "You can most certainly die from laughter." She giggled as she smelled one of the lilies. "Lord Sesshomaru," Rin interrupted the argument "I forgot to tell you! This is my new friend, Takara. Takara, this is Lord Sesshomaru." Looking up to him, Takara smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you, Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru almost lost his composure- almost. The pain the he tried so hard to hold back was now clawing at him at the sight of Rin's new mortal friend. Her long raven hair, beautiful face, and cherry lips clawed at his wounds, but when she looked up and he met her astounding blue eyes, Sesshomaru was nearly brought to his knees. Several centuries and he still couldn't forget the face of the one and only he had ever dared to love. This Takara looked exactly like his Kimiko. When she smiled and spoke to him, he did lose his composure a bit and he couldn't help but stare at her.

_Don't drool, don't drool…_ Takara chanted to herself as Sesshomaru gave her his full attention and those icy eyes peered right into her soul. _Demon indeed; it should be a sin to look that good…_ She watched as a few fleeting emotions flickered in his topaz eyes; surprise, pain, and finally a little bit of rage before the canvas was indeed blank again and he finally just starred… talk about making a girl uncomfortable! She finally lowered her eyes and became intent on making the flower chains again, squirming a bit over his lingering gaze. She wasn't that interesting, was she?

"Are you going to answer me Sesshomaru, or are you just going to stare at the girl all day?" InuYasha blurted out making Takara blush fiercely. Why wouldn't he look away? Then a thought occurred to her. Rin had said that Lord Sesshomaru was protective of her, perhaps he was just analyzing if she was a threat to Rin or not. _He must have met some pretty sneaky people to think that a girl making flower chains could be a threat_ Takara thought before his black boots were right in front of her.

She didn't dare look up at him, and by now her hands had stopped twisting the flowers, resting the strand on her lap while her shaking hands clutched it nervously. Had she done something to offend him earlier? Perhaps that was why he had been paying her so much attention. Then again, perhaps it was the eye contact. He was a dog demon after all.

Takara's mind didn't get to dig up any more possibilities because it froze at the sight of a large, pale, calloused covered hand moving into her view. His hands were large, but what had her frightened were the thick nails like InuYasha's that she knew could become claws in an instant.

One of nails was then under her chin, pressing into the soft spot there, forcing her to look up at him. Just as she was beginning to feel the true pinch of his nail against her soft flesh it was gone as a finger hooked under her chin and his thumb rested just under her bottom lip, holding her where she was. Now there was no escape from his pressing, curious gaze. _Curious is good…I think…_ Takara swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

"What's he doing, InuYasha?" she heard Kagome ask the half demon. "How should I know?" He growled back "I hope he doesn't try and kill her though, the entire village is watching him." Sure enough, when Takara glanced around almost all of the familiar faces of the villagers were in her view watching her and Sesshomaru. Her cheeks were heated into a crimson blush as she looked back to him.

"Takara, was it?" Sesshomaru finally spoke. His deep, emotionless voice sending delightful shivers down her spine. "Where are you from?" Taking a breath, Takara hoped her voice didn't shake as badly as she was. "The same place as Kagome- The other side of the well." He seemed to think that over before he spoke again. "Perhaps you should return there. Rin doesn't need any more weak humans watching over her."

In that instant, Takara felt it; the snap of her tightly reigned in temper that rarely showed itself. _Who does this ass think he is?!..._ She thought, standing, and removing his hand from her face and glared at the demon in front of her. If there was one thing that truly made her mad, it was being judged by a complete stranger. She glared at him full on for a minute as a hush had fallen over the village. "'Another weak human' huh? Well, let me tell you something LORD Sesshomaru if there was ever a time I wish I had any powers it would be now. I wish I could time travel." She informed him calmly. "So you could return to your home? A wise choice." He commented, an eyebrow arched at her sudden attitude swing. "Not even close. I'd want to go the other direction and make sure whoever raised you had taught you basic manners and conversation skills." She didn't miss his stunned look as she quickly stepped around him and started to storm off.

"You dare speak to me that way?" Takara heard him growl as she felt him trying to grip her upper arm. Taking her brother's instructions to heart, she caught the demon off guard and grabbed his arm to her tightly before bending and flipping him over her shoulder to land flat on his back, with a shocked expression on his face. "Yes I dare," she told the flabbergasted demon still lying on the ground. "And I will continue to speak to you that way until you learn to keep your rude, egotistical, and uncalled for comments to yourself!" She started to storm off again yelling back over her shoulder "And until you learn the definition of personal space!"

Rin, Kagome, and InuYasha all scattered as she angrily marched their way and headed back to the fields outside the village, stopping to grab her bow and arrows on her way just in case. It wouldn't do to tell Sesshomaru off only to die from being unarmed a few minutes later.

She was fuming! She just wanted to go back and strangle the bastard for saying such things. Finally feeling that she had reached a good spot under a large shaded tree, Takara finally sat down cross legged, trying to reign in her temper. She couldn't stop fidgeting. One of her legs was bouncing up and down rapidly while her finger tapped on the thick cloth bag her bow rested in. It had been a long time since someone had made her mad enough to shake as she sat there literally trembling in rage. The only one who had been brave enough to follow her was currently flat on his stomach doing a slow, and careful belly crawl towards her. Kaos knew she was mad as he crept closer, his ears flat against his head and whining softly.

Taking her bow and arrows out of her bag, she set them to the side and wrapped up the thick bag as a familiar white figure made its way towards her. Sesshomaru was following her and she realized then that she had probably just signed her own death warrant… She had signed and printed her name, but she was so mad that she could scream in frustration… which was exactly what she planned on doing.

She guessed InuYasha, Kagome, and Rin must have been concerned for her safety because they were hot on Sesshomaru's heels. Kagome ran to reach her before Sesshomaru but as they all approached, she held up a finger to all of them, a silent instruction to wait a second, which they did, as she pressed her face to the bag she held and screamed as loud and as long, as she could into it, allowing it to muffle her cry.

"Better?" Kagome asked as soon as she stopped. Takara shook her head and let out another frustrated scream into the fabric. Taking a few deep breaths, Takara finally sat back up, and leaned back against the tree she sat against. "Now I am" She informed her friend not even bothering to glance at the seething demon clad in white who stood before her.

"Woman…" he growled, literally growled, at her. It was hard to keep herself from shivering at the threat in his voice, but she didn't. "LORD Sesshomaru…?" she mocked him, probably not the best thing to do, but once the lid on the volcano of her temper blew, it took a little while to cool back down. He growled lowly. "You should mind your place or I shall remind you of it."

It didn't take her long to get up and get in his face as much as she could, but when she barely reached his collar bones, it was as intimidating as it should have been. "How about I set you straight on a few things that you can't seem to figure out for yourself?" She began, not backing down as he growled at her "First things first; you know nothing about me, so do NOT presume to that you have any say in what I am capable of or not." Her temper was building again, the volcano about to erupt yet again. "Second thing; here is a valuable piece of information for you- you stay away from me and you won't have to worry about me staying away from you. As long as you don't look at me, speak to me, or even acknowledge me until you have something decent to say I will do the same. Third, as long as you have left Rin here she had learned about herbs, plants, and treating illness so I decided to teach her a few things on self-defense since no one else here bothered to do so, and if I can put **you** on your ass then I have be a half way decent instructor."

She took a few calming breaths "Finally, do you think that I willingly gave up my life in my world just to be here? Let's face it, InuYasha is a pain in the ass that only Kagome has been blessed with the divine powers to put up with him. Do you really think that I haven't tried to go home every day; because I have. I'm not able to go home or I would."

She should have been worried at the red glow that hung around the edge of his molten honey eyes at the beginning of her rant, but luckily for her as she finished on a softer note with him, it faded away and some of the anger in his eyes. He just watched her for a moment more before he looked away and let out a deep breath of his own. "I will be watching you, girl." He said as he turned to walk away. "You may continue to teach Rin."

_Oh no he didn't just give me permission to work with Rin! I was going to do that anyways_! She fumed. Fine! If he wanted to play childish games then she would play them. After all Takara was the youngest child in her family. She looked over to her friend and winked at her. "Kagome, would you still tell Sesshomaru, since we are apparently still not on speaking terms, that I will do what I wish to do and that I do not require his permission for ANYTHING." She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he stopped and looked back to glare at her. "I can hear you just fine, woman" Takara giggled a little on the inside "Kagome, you may also remind Sesshomaru that my name is Takara, not woman since he seems to have forgotten in the last ten minutes." She crossed her arms over her chest as Sesshomaru stormed away with a comment of "Ridiculous."

She waited until he was nothing more than a white speck in the distance before she let go of the breath she had been holding and fell down on her butt. "I thought I was a goner." InuYasha and Kagome fell over in surprise while Rin giggled. "Lord Sesshomaru must like you," Takara raised a brow at that "How on Earth do you figure that, Rin?" Rin giggled again "It's simple. If anyone else would have spoken and treated him that way, he would have killed them. He must really like you." Takara had a feeling then of being very lucky to be alive.

Once Sesshomaru felt he had made it far enough from the human village, he leaned back against a tree and let out a breath. This girl was most certainly not his Kimiko. She may have looked and smelled just like her, but Kimiko hadn't had half the spirit this Takara had. Kimiko would have never disagreed with him, let alone yell at him and never put him flat on his back. Their similarities were as shocking as their differences. He would have to watch this one from a distance to see how she was when she wasn't mad, or busy throwing insults at him, but first he had another issue to deal with that he hadn't expected to…arise.

He had never had a female give him any such challenge nor one that wouldn't submit to him. He silently begged his cock to behave while trying to hold back his inner demon which was demanding to make the female submit to him. Her defiance had done nothing but make his cock hard since he had been flipped over her shoulder. He hoped she wasn't always so defiant, or else he would have a hard time controlling his Alpha male instincts. This was one challenge Sesshomaru looked forward to, but for now he had to get… himself… under control.


	5. A forgiving nature

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 5 – A Forgiving Nature**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

It had been well over a week since Takara's encounter with Sesshomaru and the village had been in an uproar since, but only because they now thought that she had some strange demon controlling powers. The fact of the matter was that she only got away with it because it had been Sesshomaru. She had a feeling that if he had been any other demon at that time she would have been dead. While Takara had a pretty good idea that Sesshomaru hated her guts, Rin was thoroughly convinced otherwise. Takara had to admit that she did have a good point, but she couldn't see it for herself.

But now wasn't the time to worry about those things as she soaked in a hot spring with Rin and Kagome. Now was a time to relax and enjoy the heated water soothing her tense muscles and the sensation of getting clean. "This is absolutely amazing…" she sighed, slipping further down until the water covered her shoulders and watched as Kagome showed Rin how to properly wash her hair with the new scented soaps she had gotten. "You said it.." Kagome agreed as she took handfuls of water to rinse Rin's head with. When Rin had finished with the soaps, she passed it to Takara who dipped her head under the water before giving into the little girls demands and allowed Rin to wash her hair.

"You hair is so long, Takara. I hope mine will grow out to be as pretty as yours when I'm older." She sighed as she did her best to rub the soap into Takara's long, dark locks. "I have no doubt it will Rin, but at this rate, mine is getting impossible to keep up with since my comb broke." A disappointed sigh left her this time. "What happened to it?" Kagome asked as she washed her own hair. "Kaos chewed it up." Takara shrugged her shoulders "He got bored when InuYasha hid his ball and took it out on my poor comb among other things, but none so important as the ever needed brush." Rin giggled, "Is it really that important?" With a shrug Takara told her honestly "I've been thinking about cutting it shorter. It's getting to be unmanageable." Both Kagome and Rin gasped. "You can't cut your hair Takara!" the little girl exclaimed. "It's too beautiful to do that!"

Takara shrugged her shoulders before dipping her head to rinse out the sweet smelling soap. Before long, Rin and Kagome decided to head back to the village, but Takara decided to stay behind and soak a little longer. It was nice to have a little alone time after being surrounded by people at all times. At least it was at first, until the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. She was being watched. "Who's there?" she asked, gripping the dagger that she had kept strapped to her thigh that Sango had given her. She was expecting a bandit or rouge samurai of some sort, not who stepped out of the tree line to her right.

She gasped in surprise, moving an arm to cover her breasts, and moved towards the far side of the pool as Sesshomaru stalked closer to the hot spring. "What do you want?" she demanded, realizing to her dismay that her towel and clothes were within arms distance of him. He stopped and raised a brow at her question but didn't answer. "Why are you out here alone?" He thought that she would answer him, not give him a smart remark. "I knew you were secretly a pervert." He growled at her "This Sesshomaru is no pervert, woman."

"The name is Takara, since you seem to have forgotten," she reminded him "And who are you trying to convince; me or you? If you're trying to convince me, then how about looking at my face, not my chest, I'm not going to move my arms any time soon." He must not have realized that he had indeed had his gaze fixed on her crossed arms because as soon as she said that, his eyes snapped to hers. "What do you want?" she repeated her question before he could growl at her again.

He regarded her for a minute before he spoke "You interest me. You are very different… from other humans that I have met."

Takara gave him a sigh as she rolled her eyes "Well here's some human 101 for you, don't be curious around human women while they are taking a bath. Since you don't like humans, I will warn you that they will do one of three things in your case." He waited for her to continue. "One; they will run away screaming because you're a demon. Two; they may be promiscuous and ask you to join them. Three; they will accuse you of being a pervert." She couldn't help but giggle a little as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Alright so I'm the only one who would resort to option number three." She paused and eyed her clothes. "Could you leave now? I need to get back before Kagome and InuYasha come looking for me."

Sesshomaru eyed the woman sitting in the pool in front of him. She was a curious human indeed. He had spied on her for the past few days and she never had a cross word to say to anyone; just himself. She was soft spoken and gentle with her words, and her laugh echoed often to him through the trees. Why was she so cross with him? Perhaps his words upon their meeting had angered her more than he had thought.

He hadn't meant to stare at her crossed arms over her full breasts, but the way she covered them pushed them higher and closer together, drawing even more attention to them. He was a male after all and while human, she was an attractive female. He watched her eyes go to the pile of clothes to his left, before they darted back to him and she asked him to leave. The defiant look had left her face and was replaced with a light flush of embarrassment.

He couldn't hide the smirk that had crept onto his face. Her embarrassment seemed to be the key to getting her to settle down some, so he stepped back a few steps and presented her with his back. "Why won't you just leave?" she mumbled. "We both know that you don't even like me. You're just here to tease me."

Oh how wrong she was. She was the most interesting female Sesshomaru had ever encountered and there was no way he was letting this curious creature evade him. He said nothing, simply standing where he had been until he finally heard her sigh and the water ripple as she moved closer to the edge of the pool. She waited, probably trying to determine if he was going to turn or not and finally sighed again. He heard her rise out of the water and fabric rustle as she covered her body with the towel, but that was all the time he gave her. Using his demonic speed, he suddenly stood before her, while she had only managed to wrap the towel around her body. Takara gasped in surprise before she backed up, her back hitting one of the large boulders that surrounded the pool, her small knuckles white from holding her covering so tightly.

Sesshomaru frowned "I am not going to assault you, woman." He watched as her tongue darted out to quickly moisten her lips before she looked away from him, the flush on her cheeks now covered her entire face. "If you don't back up, I'm going to punch you right in your face" her voice shook as she threatened him. He only stepped closer to her and put his hands on either side of the boulder behind her, waiting for her to strike. It was a good thing that he was prepared for her attack because he found that she didn't do as she had warned and her knee came dangerously close to connecting with an important part of his anatomy. He growled at her audacity to attack him in such a way. "You lied to me" he growled leaning closer to her. "You are both dressed and armed, while I'm not. Of course I'm going to fight dirty." She mumbled, her blush finally spreading to the tops of her full breasts.

It was mouthwatering to watch it spread, but he couldn't keep wasting time. He had come to inspect her more closely and he would. He may have gotten a good hint of her scent, but he wanted a better one. Careful to mind her hands and knees, he leaned in closer until his nose brushed the column of her throat where her pulse hammered out of control. He inhaled deeply taking her scent in deeply, sorting out the scent of the soap she had used and her scent. He was surprised at how delicious she smelled. He had thought that she had smelled exactly like his Kimiko from a distance, but now, as he drug his nose up the side of her delicate neck to the hollow behind her ear, he found that her scent was slightly sweeter than the woman she resembled. There were no scents of bones or graveyard soil to be found on her. Somewhere deep down he had suspected that she had been recreated from the remains of his beloved to torment him, but with this he is certain that she was not here, summoned from his personal hell to torment him.

She trembled under him, but her free hand had moved to the free expanse of his chest that his armor didn't cover and pushed against him, trying to move him back. "Be still, woman. I said I wasn't going to assault you. I'm merely wish to get your scent." He growled from where he stood, not moving an inch, but at least she stopped pushing on him. It was futile on her part after all. He continued to remember each twist and turn of her sweet complex scent and wished that he had caught her before her bath so that the soap didn't make it so difficult to memorize.

When he was finally satisfied that he had her true scent, he nipped her neck with his fangs lightly before he backed away. Takara jumped at the sensation of his fangs pinching the skin of her neck before he backed away. "What was that for?" she asked, moving her hand to the place where he had nipped her. "For being so disrespectful to this Sesshomaru" he answered before he turned to walk away. "Now dress so you may leave. I will escort you out." His head turned towards the direction of the wind. "I smell unfamiliar humans approaching as well as something else."

Noticing the change in his attitude, Takara fled behind the boulder and put her clothes back on before she chickened out or before Sesshomaru decided to peek. She was well aware that she had caught Sesshomaru off his guard his first meeting and was lucky to have tossed him down, but now he was ready for her. If the demon decided he wanted her, there wasn't much she could do about it. Thankfully he seemed more interested in the approaching humans than her, but better safe than sorry. Picking up her bow and placing her quiver on her back she walked up to him. He gave her a curious look. "Can you even use that, woman?"

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you, my name is Takara. Ta-Ka-Ra… and yes I can use this. It's not for decoration." She informed him coldly. "I only asked because you may need to." He informed her walking away. "Come, I smell blood"

_That doesn't sound good…_ Takara thought as she followed him out of the forest. However, once they neared the edge he paused and Takara heard the sounds of men fighting. "Wait here" he commanded her, drawing a sword his side before stepping out of the trees. Doing as he instructed, Takara remained hidden behind a tree, peeking around it to watch Sesshomaru rushing into the battle before her. It looked like nothing more than a bandit raid, a large one at that. However she thought InuYasha would be able to handle it. Something must have been off for Sesshomaru to rush into the battle, sword drawn.

That was when she heard it. A loud roar silenced the battlefield and she watched in astonishment as one of the men in the battle seemed to be ripped apart as something tore out from within, something large. She looked on in awe as the creature that had emerged from the man's body roared again, sending some of the village men running back a bit. Its deep green hide was covered in scales that stretched over the length of its snake like body. Two branch like horns were perched on top of its fang filled head, its' long jaws snapping at nearby enemies. Finally she noticed the four limbs that were protruding from the things body.

_Dragon…_ Her mind whispered as she drew an arrow from her quiver and tucked it firm against the bow string. There was no doubt this dragon was evil. The way its eyes glowed a vicious red and snapped at the villagers. Sure enough, the bowstring gave way as she aimed at the creature, but then InuYasha and Sesshomaru began attacking it making it nearly impossible to get a clear shot. Regardless, she had to make a shot and make it count because she had been spotted and bandits were heading her way. _Please hit…_ She silently begged as both Sesshomaru and InuYasha descended from a simultaneous attack. Then she fired as the creature turned her way letting out a roar of rage at the brothers. She watched the arrow soar through the air before its mark, hitting the creature right between the eyes, driving deep into its skull.

Then men coming after her stopped as they heard the dragon roar in pain before it suddenly collapsed in a heap of flesh and scales. Then it was burning, dark green scales falling from its body before another light began to rise from the flaming corpse and began streaking towards her. The light wrapped around her before it began seeping into her with fiery warmth that almost burned. Then the sensation was gone and she was left standing in a daze and breathless. The bandits took that as a sign to attack, but before she could think, she reacted. "FUS RO DAH!" she shouted the unfamiliar words and watched in amazement as the bandits coming after her were suddenly thrown back.

Takara gasped in shock, slapping her hand over her mouth. _Did I just do that? _ She wondered in amazement. _What did I do?_ She pondered this intently while a shaky hand drew another arrow and aimed it at the bandits who were still lying on the ground in a daze from being knocked back by whatever she had shouted. The more she thought on her actions, the more she realized what she had done. It was as if a dam in her mind had begun to leak and she now knew things that she was unaware she had known. Slow trickles of knowledge began to seep into her conscious thoughts until she realized what she had done. She had spoken in the language of dragons.

"Takara" InuYasha called as a few of her attackers finally made it to their feet and began making their way to her again. She didn't hesitate this time as they filed into a nice line for her like ducks in a row and she released her next arrow at the man in front, but it didn't stop until it reached the last man in the group, finally coming to a halt in his neck.

She shook from her actions as InuYasha finally made it over to her and put himself between her and the rest of the bandits. The magnitude of what had just happened hit her hard as she reeled in shock. She had just killed four men; just extinguished four lives with her actions. That thought alone had her trembling. With a single swing, InuYasha eliminated the rest of the attackers, turned to her and spoke but Takara didn't hear his words. _What have I done?_

"You think she's going to be ok?" Kagome whispered to InuYasha as they starred through the bushes at Takara. She was huddled up against a tree on the outskirts of the village crying. "Yeah, but she should be happy with herself after a shot like that." InuYasha grumbled. "Four guys with one arrow was pretty impressive." Kagome almost told him to sit, but refrained because she didn't want her friend to know that they were watching her. "Perhaps for you, but I imagine Takara's feeling really guilty right about now." She informed her half demon husband with a sigh. "She hates violence and she just killed four people, self-defense or not. I can't imagine what she must be thinking about herself." InuYasha sighed. "I guess you're right. I know if I were in her place, I wouldn't be mourning over the men I killed." Kagome turned her head back to her friend "Takara has a big heart."

Sesshomaru also watched the girl. He waited until his younger brother and his female had left before he approached her. He couldn't fathom the reason behind her tears. The men who she had killed wouldn't have mourned over her death, rather, they would have relished it. Perhaps he would never understand humans, especially the females.

He wanted to turn and leave, but something about the sight of her there drew him to her. She looked just like his Kimiko when she was sitting there crying. _She is not her…_ He silently told himself even as he took the steps to close the distance between them. Before he knew it, he was standing beside her and then kneeling down to look at her. He didn't say anything, but he knew that she was aware of his presence.

"Please go away." She whispered "I'm not in the mood to argue with you." Sesshomaru may not have understood humans, nor did he desire too, but something deep within him that he wished no longer existed began to stir at the sight of Takara's devastation. She was too gentle for such battles. Knowing he shouldn't but doing it anyways, he too leaned against the tree beside her. "You must have nothing better to do if you're really just going to sit here to torment me." She grumbled with a soft sniff. Sesshomaru didn't reply. He simply reached his arm behind her, wrapped it around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. Takara gasped from the quick movement, looking up at him with surprised, tear filled eyes.

Using his free hand, he wiped away a few of the stray tears that had fallen from her beautiful blue eyes. He hated the salty smell of human tears. Takara starred at him in shock for a few more seconds before letting out a trembling sigh, finally calming as she leaned into his chest, resting her head on his fur. She closed her eyes and just sat in his lap for a few more minutes, sitting completely still before she moved again, turning her face fully into the fur at his shoulder. Then she sighed again, only this time she turned in his lap to where she was facing him more than before. "What are you doing?" he finally asked, although he knew full well that she was insistently cuddling herself into the mass of fur on his shoulder. She mumbled something into the fur, but it was too muffled for him to understand. He waited for her to speak again. His breath was nearly stolen away as she turned her face to him with a beautiful smile as she rested her head against his shoulder. "I said "It's so fluffy!"" She laughed and began cuddling her face in it. At least she wasn't crying anymore.


	6. Old memories, new friend

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 6- Old Memories, New Friend**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

The weeks since the attack seemed to fly by, and Takara was beginning to believe that there was no way for her to return to her own time. It may not have been such a bad thing, but then again it may have. It seemed the local men in the village now considered her a permanent resident which in their eyes meant that she was no fair game. There was no telling how many different times she had been given little gifts by the local men. Kagome and Sango had even begun taking a tally of how many times each villager had presented her with something.

"This is getting to be ridiculous" Takara complained as Kagome and Sango sat across from her in the shade of a large tree adding up the tallies. "Now don't forget the flowers that Shiro gave her this morning." Kagome giggled "These are adding up Takara. Even a few travelers have given you a couple of gifts."

With a sigh, Takara placed her head on her knees and watched as Rin came up the hill in a hurry. Sesshomaru had arrived not long ago and Takara guessed the little girl wanted to show them what he had brought her. "Sesshomaru spoils Rin." She commented as the girls turned also to the little girl. "You're one to talk Miss Get-A-Gift-From-Every-Single-Man-In-The-Village." Sango said as she tossed an acorn at her.

Takara noticed that Sesshomaru was following the little girl as was InuYasha. The two of them were in conversation. Takara had to look up and make sure the sky wasn't falling on that note. The two of them never had a conversation that didn't turn into a fight within a few moments.

"Look what Lord Sesshomaru brought me!" Rin exclaimed as she held her hands out. It seemed to be a small decorated hair stick. "Will you put it in for me, Takara?" It was a question, but she had already put the small stick in her hands and presented Takara with her back. Rising to her knees, Takara began to pull the little girl's hair up only to find it too tangled. "Rin you need to bring me a comb first. Run and get me on real quick, ok?" With an eager nod, Rin took off back down the hill to the village.

"Final tally is 36 for this week" Sango laughed as she stood up. "I better get back before the kids drive Miroku insane. I'm surprised that he hasn't come to find me yet." With a wave to Kagome and Takara, the other woman headed back towards the village as well. InuYasha and Sesshomaru stopped in the shade of the tree.

"36 of what this week?" InuYasha asked, and Takara couldn't stop her sigh. She rested her forehead on her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Nothing, InuYasha…"

"Takara's gifts from the men in the village" Kagome ignored her silent plea to drop the subject. "They're all vying for her attention more and more lately. Hachiro is in the lead. He's a persistent one."

Takara groaned. "It's like we're speaking a different language. No matter how many times I tell them I'm not interested, they keeping bringing me things." She looked up at the sky and sighed "It's like they can't take a hint." Kagome's laughter wasn't improving her mood either. A change of subject was needed.

"However, my day has just been drastically improved" Jumping up, she moved past InuYasha to Sesshomaru. "I missed you so much!" She said before wrapping her arms around him, feeling him stiffen at her touch as she snuggled into the mass of fluffy down at his shoulder. "You missed Sesshomaru?" InuYasha sounded as if he was about to faint.

Takara finally released the shocked demon, and sat back down. "Not Sesshomaru, just his fur. Sesshomaru and I aren't quite best friends yet, but we're getting there." Sesshomaru raised a brow at that but said nothing. "It must be true! He didn't shoot down my hopes and dreams." She elbowed InuYasha who sat beside her.

"This Sesshomaru doesn't have…friends" He commented coldly, and Takara looked to him, before she looked at the ground. "And if I may direct your attention to the ground," She began, speaking to no one in general "Here lies the shattered fragments of my hopes and dreams, the pieces shattered so small that they are no longer visible" She shook her head at Sesshomaru "That is why I excited just to see the fur… it doesn't kill my visions like you do."

"Foolish mortal!" a squeaky voice called from around Sesshomaru's legs, and Takara gasped as a small demon stepped out from behind his leg. "Lord Sesshomaru cares not for your hopes or your dreams. You'll do well to keep your hands off of him." Takara just starred at the little…thing.

"Are you some sort of frog?" her voice filled with awe as she stood and moved closer to the little thing and squatted down to its level before she poked it in the head with a stick that she had picked up. It was then InuYasha fell over laughing as Takara continued to poke at the little creature who was clearly getting irritated with her. "What do you think you are doing?" it grumbled at her.

"You're kind of strange looking." She told it as the funny looking thing tried to push the stick away. "So I have to poke you with a stick, like some plants, frogs, and half eaten, maggot infested squirrels… The list goes on. It's principle. If it looks strange, I am inclined to poke it with a stick- No exceptions. "

"My name is Jaken, girl." It told her as she finally put the stick down. "I'm am Lord Sesshomaru's vassal and where he goes, so do I." Takara nodded and thought for a moment. "Then where were you last time he was here?"

Before Jaken even got a chance to answer, Rin came running back up the hill with a comb in hand. "Here you go Takara" she said handing over the comb. Takara moved to where she had been sitting earlier and sat on her knees, patting her lap for Rin to sit down. Once she stopped squirming, Takara began to comb her hair, but realized she was going to have to start at the bottom of Rin's hair and slowly work her way up and through the tangles. It took a good fifteen minutes at least to work through the knots, but eventually Rin's dark tresses were tangle free. "Now then, let's give this another try." Working the little girl's hair into a loose bun, Takara secured it with the pretty hair stick. "All done, Rin"

"That looks really good, Rin. Now you just need to keep your hair brushed so I can teach you how to put it up yourself." Rin didn't listen to her though as she ran down the hill to show the other children in the village. "Oh well"

"Hey, Takara" Kagome gently asked "Have you been able to do what you did…that day?" Takara understood what she was talking about. It was a tender subject for her, but she shook her head. "I don't even know what I did."

"What were you thinking when they were heading towards you?" InuYasha asked moving to sit in front of her. "Why?" She didn't see why it was so important. "We just need to see if you can do it again." InuYasha informed her "Now think, try and remember what you were thinking about as they were getting closer. What did you want to do?"

Takara thought hard and tried her best to remember that day which she tried to repress as much as possible. InuYasha knew it was a touchy subject or else he wouldn't have bothered her. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and thought back to that day. The flash of their blades and the angry glint in their eyes made her tremble at the memory, but she hadn't wanted to kill them. "I just wanted to knock them back and away from me." She tried her best to think of the words that had flown out of her mouth, but nothing came to her.

"It was like what Totosai said would happen, I felt that dragon's soul being absorbed into mine and it was like I acquired a part of the knowledge it possessed, but I don't know what information I used." Takara shook her head, "If I could figure out what knowledge from the dragon I used then I feel like I could do it again."

_That's it! _ She thought, holding up a finger to InuYasha who began to talk. She was onto something. Closing her eyes, she focused her mind on the tiny bits of information she had acquired from the dragon, hidden in a distant corner of her mind. The words she had used were foreign to her, but she realized then that what she had done was spoken three words of the dragon's language, but which ones? She continued to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The words she had called out had all dealt with a push or force. She stood up and walked away from the group and InuYasha followed her.

"Alright, InuYasha, you get to be the dummy." She said as she pushed the half demon away from her before running back a small distance. "It shouldn't be too much of a change for you. I didn't want to throw you for a loop or anything."

"Very funny" he grumbled as he put his hands to his side and waited. Taking a deep breath, Takara braced herself and thought long and hard on the words she wanted to use and what they meant. "FUS RO DAH!" To her utter disbelief, the half demon went flying backwards only to land hard on the ground. She slapped a hand over her face as she ran over to him. "InuYasha are you alright?" she wrapped and arm under his shoulders, lifting his head up. His eyes were attempting to focus and his body was limp for a moment before he was finally able to come to his senses. "Whoa… That packs a punch…" he breathed, trying to sit up, swaying a bit as he did so.

"I guess I figured it out" she told him with a smile, glad that she hadn't caused any major damage. He nodded as he tried to stand, still not quite up to par "From now on, I'm not letting you test anything else out on me." Then Kagome was beside him, her face covered in relief that he was alright. "So what did you do?" Even dazed, the half demon was still curious, but before she could answer, a roar echoed over the tree tops.

"Retrieve your bow" Sesshomaru instructed her as he stepped in front of her and drew his sword- the one Rin had called Bakusaiga. Something must have been coming their way so Takara quickly moved to pick up her quiver and sling it over her back and grabbed her bow up before heading back over to the group. In seconds, a dark figure was spotted in the sky and heading right towards the group.

Takara placed an arrow on her bow string as InuYasha also drew his sword. Taking aim, Takara locked onto her target, but as she went to draw the bowstring back, it wouldn't budge. Remembering what Totosai had said, she lowered her weapon. "Don't attack it" she told the others. "Why the hell not?!" InuYasha demanded, throwing her an irritated look. "Because I want you to fry, InuYasha." She answered sarcastically. "I couldn't draw my bow, that's why." Understanding, he nodded and sheathed his sword. Sesshomaru didn't follow suit, but he didn't move to attack either as the large creature set down onto all fours on the opposite side of the clearing.

It looked similar to the dragon from last time as far as the shape of its body went, but this one's scales were a dark shade of blue with a few other colors mixed in with it. Takara thought she saw a few hints of purple and even a bit of silver. The spines along its neck however, were a pure white as were its antler like horns on its head. The eyes this one possessed were also a light shade of silver.

"I have heard the voice of another Dov…" It spoke, its voice a deep growl. "Who among you can speak the words of my kin?" Slowly, Takara stepped away from the rest of the group towards the behemoth. The creature eyed her for a moment before taking a few hesitant steps closer, lowering its massive head to get a better look at her. "You have a strong Voice for one so small. Tell me girl, why did you use your Voice?" She swallowed, up close, that thing's teeth were a lot bigger than they appeared.

"To see if I could. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it again." She answered honestly. Bright silver eyes pondered her answer. "It was you then that killed my Earth Kin?" She nodded. "He was attacking the village with a group of humans."

The creature hissed at that, startling the group. "A dragon who requires humans for a siege is not worthy of being my Kin. You did well, little one with pretty eyes." He purred roughly as he settled his large body down. "It is impressive that you were able to kill an Earth Kin, their hides are especially thick." He wound his tail around her, giving the backs of her knees a nudge making her sit on his tail. "This is the weapon you used then?" He inclined his head towards the bow. She nodded and wondered when she would get to ask a few questions- she only had about a million and fourteen of them. She blurted one out then. "What is your name?" The beast gave her a curious look then. "Sahloknir is my name. In the language of the Dov it means Phantom Sky Hunter. What is your name? Shall I continue to call you little one with pretty eyes?" This dragon seemed to be quite the charmer. "My name is Takara and I have a lot of questions for you."

Sahloknir and Takara talked through the afternoon and long into the night. He was apparently an old dragon and knew what she was. In the Dov, or dragon speech, she was Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn. That was their meaning for a mortal with the ability to absorb a dragon's soul. According to him what she had done when she spoke the dragon language was spoken words of power in order to perform a Shout. A Shout consisted of three words of power and the  
Shout she had used Fus Ro Dah was called the Shout of Unrelenting Force. It translated into Force Balance Push and was used mainly by Earth Kin to knock back enemies, which was why she had known it after absorbing the dragon's soul, which she also learned came at a price. It seemed that for every dragon soul she absorbed, she extended her life by the amount of time that dragon had lived. To many it was the gift of immortality, but when Takara looked at things, it was a curse. When she asked Sahloknir how he spent his many years and replied with meditation Takara groaned. She wasn't one for meditation.

She then showed the old dragon where her foe's bones still laid where he had fallen and the dragon inspected them, cracking a horn off the bleached white skull and examined the inside of it. "For one that does not wish to prolong her mortal life, you were very lucky. This was a young dragon." Takara cocked her head to the side as she looked at him. "How can you tell?" He lowered the horn so that she could see the place it had broken off from the rest of the skull. "First off it is rather small, so that meant it was a younger dragon, secondly, if you look at the horn it grows like a tree until they reach a hundred years. Every ten years, a young dragon's horn will thicken with an extra band. This Earth Kin only has five rings, making it only around fifty winters old."

"Only? Only fifty years old? That's an average lifespan for some people! I have to be old for twice as long?" Takara was ranting while Sahloknir was chuckling. "No small one. It means you won't start aging again for fifty years. You be young for a while longer. If you wish to avoid a long number of years, I would suggest you stay away from Vulthuryol. He was one of the first of our kind and many, many winters older than I. Should you end up slaying him, you would live forever and fifty years counting this one." He gave her a toothy grin as he nodded to the bones at his feet. "That's not funny, and trust me if he doesn't come looking for me then I won't go looking for him." The old dragon moved his chin to one of his front claws and scratched it. "He might though. He isn't fond of mortals, especially ones that could destroy him." Takara paled at that. She was suicidal, so if Vulthuryol did come after her she would fight, but immortality wasn't something she was after.

It was late in the night when Sahloknir finally left. Should she need any more instruction on anything dragon related or for the 'pure enjoyment' that his company brought, he taught her how to call him. All she had to do was use his name as a shout and he would come. Vulombrii was the dragon name he had given her, telling her that it meant Dark Hair Beauty. Sahloknir was most definitely a flirt to the highest degree. She wouldn't be alone with him to witness his dragon magic, as he had briefly touched on that was for sure.

Takara sat late into the night by herself, thinking about all she had been told and how she wouldn't even start aging for another fifty years. While she hadn't been looking forward to wrinkles or anything, she was looking forward to living her life like a normal girl and now life had dealt her an unexpected hand. She couldn't change her cards, but she would do all that she could with what she had been given.


	7. Yolheimin

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 7 – Yolheimin**

**Disclaimer: : I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

The next day, Takara was awake at her usual time and out and about with her daily chores despite only getting a few hours of sleep. Honestly, she was exhausted. "It's your own fault that you stayed up so late." InuYasha reminded her as she expected him to while he lazed on a branch of a tree watching other people work. "Why don't you come down and help me then?" She asked as she threw an acorn at him. "Nah" he yawned, making her follow suit. "It's too much work getting down." Takara narrowed her blue eyes at the half demon, scheming. She thought for a moment before she looked over to Kagome who was pulling weeds and then to Kaos who was lounging a few feet away from Sesshomaru, who sat in the shade of the tree.

She grinned. "Kaos" she called her lazy companion "come here" Above her, InuYasha huffed. "You think that dog is going to get me down?" Takara didn't mind him as she petted her dog's head and turned it towards Kagome. "Give her the kisses." She told him. The dog did as she instructed and trotted over to Kagome and proceeded to lick her in the face, making her laugh. "Knock it off, Kaos." She told him, but he didn't stop. "Good boy, Kaos. Give her the kisses." Takara praised him and he continued to lick Kagome's face. "Down Kaos" she scolded him. "Sit boy." As soon as the words left her mouth, InuYasha came crashing to the ground. "Fancy meeting you here, InuYasha!" she giggled "Do you come here often?" Lifting his head out of the dirt, he growled at her "Takara…" That only made her laugh until Kaos made his way over to her and put her on the receiving end of "The kisses".

"No thank you," she told him turning her head away. "I no like the doggy kisses" He stopped but whined, putting a paw on her lap as he leaned in again. "No Kaos, I no like doggy kisses" She had come prepared though, bringing with her the newest weapon in "the kisses" defense arsenal. "Rin!" she called to the little girl who was happily playing with some flowers. "Kaos wants his…" she didn't even finish as Rin squealed in excitement and ran to pick up Kaos' ball and throwing stick. That worked like a charm every time. In no time, Kaos was sprinting off to play with the girl.

"That was mean, Takara" Kagome said as she continued to pull weeds. "True," Takara agreed with a laugh "But it was both clever and effective, so that makes it alright." She then threw an empty basket to the irritated half demon. "I assume you know which ones are weeds and which ones aren't right?" He glared at her for a few more minutes before he began pulling weeds angrily. He was mad, but not for long…

Giving a wink to a curious Kagome, Takara eyed the half demon with her most promiscuous glance and held it until he went to glare at her again. He looked at her surprised for a moment before he glanced behind him to see if she was really looking at him. Once he figured out that she was, he began to squirm under her gaze. "I like the way you pull those weeds, InuYasha." She flirted with him, while Kagome tried her hardest to contain her laughter. InuYasha on the other hand had begun to look rather uncomfortable and moved farther down the field from Takara. "Don't be that way InuYasha! It's ok. We can be in love. Kagome said she would share." With that, InuYasha turned bright red and quickly fled the field as Kagome's laughter boiled over.

Falling over into a fit of giggles, she was turning red from lack of air. "So," Takara looked to her "What are you going to do when you're both home tonight and he asks if you would really share him?" Kagome wiped the tears out of her eyes as her laughter finally calmed. "I'm going to tell him that I would only ever share him with you and that'll you'll be over in a few minutes." Takara starred at her this time before they both fell over in a fit of laughter.

As she finally pulled herself together, Takara felt Sesshomaru's eyes on her, and he was giving her a light glare. She blinked at him a few times before she gave him a wink. "Don't worry, Sesshomaru. I still love your fluffy more than I love InuYasha." This only made him glare at her more. "If you would just let me, I would snuggle with it all the time. We could be very happy together. The fluffy and I." She giggled. "You shouldn't get in the way of our adoration." Kagome snickered again, trying to contain her laughter. "Takara, please stop. You're gonna make me wet myself from laughing too hard."

Takara gave her the best mortified look she could manage. "You think his keeping us apart is funny? I'm distraught!" She turned back to Sesshomaru, and placed a hand over her heart. "Don't you dare deny that there is something magical between us!" Kagome was rolling again as Sesshomaru stood up to leave like his younger brother, except he just seemed annoyed. "Don't take my love away from me! Sesshomaru come back, please! Fluffy! Don't worry my love! I shall find a way to reunite us!" It wasn't too much longer before Kagome stood and left too in a hurry, only she was about to fall over in laughter. Takara glanced behind her where Kaede was giving her a questioning look. "This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep." Takara shrugged and went back to pulling weeds for a bit before her eyelids were becoming too heavy.

She made her way out to the field where Rin was playing with Kaos and placed her bag under the shade of a tree and used it as a pillow before she began to nod off to the sounds of Rin and Kaos playing. Right before she fell asleep, she heard them approach and as Rin used Takara as a pillow, Takara moved her bag and used Kaos as a pillow as they all settled down for a nap under the tree.

It couldn't have been too much later when the sounds of horses woke her up. It must have woken Rin up as well since the weight of the little girl's head lifted from her side. "Who is it, Rin?" Takara asked yawning and stretching from her nap like a cat. "I don't know but they look important." That got her attention and Takara finally sat up and looked down into the village. It seemed as if a lord or a person of some importance had made a grand entrance into the village. "I guess we should go and see what that's all about."

Standing, Takara brushed off the bits of grass off of her kimono and righted it from where it had loosened in her sleep. Taking Rin's hand the two of them walked down the hill into the village past several of the soldiers until they reached InuYasha and Kagome where her suspicions were confirmed. It seemed as if one of the local lords needed assistance. He had to be in his thirties or forties- not a young lord but he wasn't terribly old either. His dark hair had a few strands of grey here and there as did his mustache.

"The reason I am here," he continued, answering InuYasha "Was because word has reached me of one in your village who has the ability to slay a dragon. Currently there is one that is on a rampage near my village." He adjusted himself on his horse. "I have sent several warriors to slay the beast and they have all been slain themselves. If the person in the village is able to stop the dragon's rampage, I shall ensure that they are rewarded handsomely." His voice grated on Takara's nerves. Something about the guy rubbed her the wrong way.

InuYasha, to her surprise, turned to her. "What do you say, Takara?" he asked "You up for this?" She really didn't want to tack on more years to her already extended life, but she couldn't let this dragon continue to torment innocent people. She turned to the lord who was looking at her in disbelief mixed with something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "I just have to stop it from attacking the village right?" she asked him "I don't have to kill it unless I need to?" The lord seemed to flounder for an answer before he finally turned back to InuYasha, his face red and two of his soldiers stepped closer to Takara.

"You take me for a fool, demon!?" he exclaimed at InuYasha. "You expect me to ask a woman for help?! She is beautiful, so she may be of some use in my chambers, but I need a warrior, not some woman!" As he finished speaking, one of the soldiers reached for her and Takara reacted. "FUS RO DAH" as she Shouted, the two men went flying back and the lord's horse reared, dropping the man on his ass. Takara just looked to InuYasha, "I guess he doesn't want my help." She began to drag Rin away when the irritating voice stopped her. "Wait girl! Perhaps you can be of some use to me after all!" That did it. She spun on her heel and looked at the lord who was making his way to his feet before she spoke unfamiliar words that made the Earth tremble as she spoke them. "Hio loan vahzah suleyk, Mey? Zu'u Vulombrii. Zu'u mul ahrk hiu dahmaan tol!"

She glared at the terrified man who starred at her before he fell to his knees and bowed to her. "Forgive me! Please help my village." He begged and Takara rolled her eyes. "You don't have to beg. All you have to do is ask and don't insult me." She motioned InuYasha over, away from the crowd and he followed. "I really don't want to help this jerk out, but it's his people who are suffering, not him." InuYasha nodded. "So you'll help then?" Takara sighed but nodded. "Let me get my bow and arrows"

Only a few minutes late, Takara was on Kaede's horse and on her way to the lords village with InuYasha and Kagome walking beside her. "So what did you say back there?" Kagome asked. Takara grinned down at her. "I was being dramatic. I said "You question true power, Fool. I am Vulombrii. I am strong and you remember that"" InuYasha laughed. "I was even pretty impressed with that. The look on his face was priceless." Takara shrugged.

The walk to the village took well over half a day, but as they drew closer and closer, Takara could see the damage done to the surrounding forest where trees had been snapped in half and bushes trampled. As the lord, Isamu as they learned his name was, spoke with one of them men in the village they learned that the beast had yet to attack it since the previous day. "Then let's let it come to us." Takara said before she took out her bow and arrows and sat down on a fallen tree to wait for the thing. InuYasha sat beside her while Kagome spoke with the locals to see if there were any patterns to the thing's attacks. It seemed that it attacked almost every day, trampling everything in its path but it didn't seem to go after anyone, just anything that happened to be unlucky enough to get in its path. It was nearly sun set when they finally heard a roar not too far away from their present location.

The people of the village began to panic and Kagome hurried them away from the forest's edge. InuYasha and Takara waited and listened along with several of the Isamu's soldiers who just so happened to end up behind the walls to his small castle. "Coward…" Takara grumbled as the thundering of the dragon grew closer along with the snapping of tree trunks. "I'm back" Kagome announced, drawing her own bow and arrow. "All the villagers know to avoid the dragon by now, so they are ready to run if they need to." Takara nodded and loaded an arrow on her bowstring. The sounds of snapping quieted for a moment and all that was heard were the dragons low growls.

Aiming in the direction that the growls were coming from, Takara went to pull the bowstring back, only to realize it wouldn't budge. Before she could tell everyone that the dragon meant no harm, one of the soldiers fired an arrow into the trees. "Don't attack!" Takara instructed. Knowing that she knew what she was talking about, both Kagome and InuYasha sheathed their weapons, but the soldiers continued to fire. An ear shattering roar echoed through the village before a deep red shape burst through the trees, fire erupting from its mouth as it headed right towards the group. InuYasha grabbed Kagome to move her out of the creature's path, but Takara was left standing before it as it charged towards her. She heard Kagome call her name, but was too focused on the dragon to move. Something about the creature was off. It was slamming its shoulder into every tree and building it passed along with the claw on the same limb. It seemed to be hurt.

Then an arm was around her waist as she was pulled back into something solid and lifted out of the creature's path and into the air. She looked down to see an arm covered in a white kimono wrapped around her waist. She looked over her shoulder to see Sesshomaru's face and he didn't seem happy. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, woman?" She was about to fire back with a smart remark when she caught a glimpse of something above the trees. "Not exactly" she answered, not paying him too much attention. "Do you think you could get a little higher?" The look he gave her told her that he wasn't thrilled to be listening to her, but she did as she asked and flew higher with her, giving her an uninterrupted view of the tree tops. To her surprise, there was a long path worn into the forest where the dragon had been trampling through. According to Sahloknir, dragons were able to move through trees with magic that didn't disturb the forest in the slightest if they focused. Something was keeping this dragon from focusing.

Takara glanced back down at the dragon and from this angle she could see what the problem was. "Put me down, Sesshomaru!" she told him. "I figured out why its mad." Looking over her shoulder, Sesshomaru's face had returned to its typical emotionless state, but he quickly descended.

Once she was on solid ground she turned to the angry beast and spoke. "Zu fen govey fin tuz." The red serpent stopped in its tracks and whipped its head to her. "Zu hind hio kos aan fahdon" it spoke to her and she nodded and slowly approached. Up close, she could see the cause of its pain. A sword was lodged in its shoulder, underneath several of its ruby scales. "I can't reach you." She told it gently and it slowly lowered down to where she could grasp the hilt of the sword. "Get ready" she told it gently and it tightly grasped a fallen tree in its claw, and Takara felt the sword twitch as the muscles contracted. "Relax or I can't pull it out. You're too tense." She rubbed her hand over the smooth scales around the wound and a deep rumbling exhale came from the creature. As he went to let out another breath, Takara yanked as hard as she could on the sword, pulling it free from the dragon's scaly hide. Tearing the sleeve of her kimono, Takara put it against the bleeding wound and applied pressure to stop the breathing. The tenseness in the beautiful creature seemed to melt away as a growl of pain faded into a soft purr.

It swung its head around to her and inhaled deeply. "You are kind small one. That sword has pained me for many weeks." Takara smiled at the big creature as it nuzzled her like a very big and scaly kitten as it purred. Takara placed a hand on its muzzle, feeling that the scales on its head were even smoother than the ones on its body, feeling much like a polished stone. Like Sahloknir, he was warm to the touch. He twisted his serpentine frame around and held out his claw to here where another item was wedged between two of his claws only this time they had broken through the smaller, more delicate scales. Gripping what was left of the blade, Takara held tightly as the dragon pulled free from the sword, like removing a bee's stinger from its skin.

"Thank you, Dovahkiin" he purred, rubbing his injured knuckle with his other claw. "I'm afraid the pain of those small blades blinded me with rage. Forgive me. I am called Yolheimin." Takara thought for a minute, trying to break up his name into the dragon speech to figure out its meaning as InuYasha and Kagome approached slowly and Yolheimin eyed them warily. "They mean you no harm." Takara assured the fire dragon as they drew even closer. Sesshomaru too had ended up at her side at some point but she hadn't realized when that was.

"Krosis" he apologized "A thousand pardons, Dovahkiin. I meant no insult to him Grah- Zeymahzin, your allies. After these past few weeks, I have found myself even more distrustful of joorre, mortals." Yolheimin turned his head and hissed as Isamu came closer, but halted. "You said you would kill it!" he exclaimed, hiding behind his soldiers. "I said no such thing" Takara yelled as Yolheimin whipped his head to her. "You said all I needed to do was to stop him from trampling the village and I have." Yolheimin then turned his head slowly back to Isamu, a deadly growl rumbling in his chest. "Had you not attacked my cave and cause me harm and much pain, I would have left your dwelling alone, Mey."

It was InuYasha who spoke up next. "So why did you attack him?" Isamu's face turned red in both anger and embarrassment at being exposed as the cause of his village's destruction. "Because he refused to forge a sword worthy of me!" The great beast finally rose to his feet as he starred down the pathetic lord, his growling increasing in volume, but Takara placed a hand on his forelimb. "Drem" she told him before looking back to Isamu. "What kind of sword do you think is worthy of you?" she asked. "A sword of dragon bones. Legends say that it is stronger than the toughest metal and can be sharpened better than any blade!"

Takara nodded, and picked up her bow and arrows before approaching the lord. She held out a single arrow to him. "This arrow is made of dragon bone. See if you are able to hold it." Isamu held out his hands, giving Takara a confident and offended look. She opened her hand and dropped the arrow. As soon as it touched Isamu's hands it seemed to pull him to the ground. Looking confused, the pitiful lord tried to lift the arrow, but couldn't making Yolheimin laugh. "You see, joor. This is why I would not heim hio aan tuz… forge you a blade." He chuckled a moment more before he continued. "You see, one must possess a Dovah sil, dragon soul in order to wield a weapon made from Dovah Qeth, dragon bone."

Yolheimin then turned to Takara. "I will leave now with the hopes that this mey never sends any more of his minions to my home." The turned to growl at Isamu who watched in amazement as Takara picked up the arrow he was attempting to hold and placed it back in her quiver. "I thank you for your help…?" he waited and Takara laughed. "Krosis, I have yet to ask your name, Dovahkiin." "My name is Takara, but one of your kind gave me the name Vulombrii."

As she approached Yolheimin, he purred again. "It is a good name for you." With a final pat to his snout, Yolheimin turned to leave, heading back into the forest. "Should you ever need me or my skill, you need only Shout, Vulombrii. I will come if I can." With that, Takara watched in amazement as his ruby scales seemed to fade away as he literally disappeared into the forest without disturbing it.

"Excuse me, my lady" one of the villagers called to her. "We are truly grateful that you have resolved the dragon issue for us. Is there any way we could repay you? Judging from the look of Isamu, she highly doubted he would pay her as he had promised, but she still intended to hold him to his word. "While your lord owes me a debt, the only payment I ask of you villagers is to make a small offering to Yolheimin once a month as an apology for disturbing his home." The old man eagerly agreed to that and decided that a monthly offering of deer, goat, or boar would be offered up to the dragon.

Takara then turned to Isamu, "For now, let's just say you owe me. I may collect on that at a later time. Without another glance to him, Takara found Kaede's horse and mounted it. "I'm ready for another nap" Takara yawned to InuYasha and Kagome who laughed and followed her out of the village and back home. She laughed at that. Calling the village home just made the hopelessness of her situation sink in. She looked around for Sesshomaru who had disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. She was loathe to do it, but the next time she saw him, she needed to thank him for saving her.


	8. Like the rain

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 8 – Like the rain**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

It was night by the time InuYasha, Kagome, and Takara made it back home and Takara was sore from riding so long. It definitely wasn't something she planned on doing often. InuYasha and Kagome decided to go home for the night and for Takara to tell Kaede that they would see her tomorrow. She knew what those two were planning and smirked before she called out to InuYasha "Don't disappoint her InuYasha or she'll come running to me!" "Takara!" Kagome yelled at her and she kicked her horse into a trot so she couldn't be hit by anything Kagome threw at her while, laughing the whole time. She thought about letting Kaede know that she was home, but it was late and the old priestess and Rin were both asleep already. Shrugging, she led the horse to the stable and removed all its tack and gave it a quick brush down and a little bit of hay before she picked up her bag and started to head back to hut. But before she had even made it halfway, she felt something strike her on the back of the head before everything when black.

It was early when InuYasha woke up to the sound of Kaede walking up to their hut. She was still pretty far away, giving him time to dress as he slowly moved away from Kagome's embrace and covered her bare, sleeping form. He felt confident that he had convinced her last night to never even consider sharing him with anyone and smirked when he realized that had been Takara's motive. She really was a kind person, even if they argued all the time. She was fun to be around no matter what she was doing and you never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. He stepped out to meet Kaede who gave him a worried expression. "InuYasha, how late did all of you return?" InuYasha shrugged "I'm not sure exactly. It wasn't too late, but when we arrived everyone was asleep why?" Kaede's worry increased and InuYasha didn't like that at all. "Takara is missing. The horse is in the stable put away, but there's no sign of her."

"You're positive that she hasn't been home all night?" InuYasha asked and the old priestess shook her head. "Her things haven't been touched and her dog has been sitting at the door waiting for her all morning. He wouldn't even play with his toy when I tried to throw it to him. He just sat at the hut and was starring off at the road." InuYasha cursed before he headed back inside. "Kagome, wake up" he told her as he tossed her a clean kimono. "What's wrong, InuYasha?" she asked rubbing her eyes and yawning. "Takara's missing." As soon as the words left his mouth her eyes went wide and she began dressing in a hurry. In no time they were heading into the village to look for her. As they arrived in the village, everyone was awake and looking for her and Rin was in tears. "Calm down, Rin." InuYasha patted the girl on the head. "We'll find her." He tried to soothe herm but she continued to cry. "Find who?" When the half demon turned around, he found himself nearly face to face with his older brother. "Takara" he told him "She hasn't been home all night according to Kaede but her horse was put away." He began to head over to the stable listening as Sesshomaru followed him. "It's not like her to stay out all night or go somewhere without telling anyone."

Looking around the stable, InuYasha could smell Takara as well as the scent of the horse and a few other animals and her scent continued away from the barn, when InuYasha noticed it. It was the scent of Takara's blood and an unknown male. Looking at the ground he could tell that she had been attacked and someone had carried her off. "This way" he told his brother who was still following him. Another scent mixed in with the first two followed by a few more as they headed into the forest outside of the village. There InuYasha saw a few different sets of prints from both horses and humans alike and it seemed by the tracks if they had left in a hurry.

"InuYasha" Kagome called to him as she ran after them "What did you find?" "Someone kidnapped her. I'm going after her. You stay here and keep an eye on Rin. The kid is crying her eyes out." Kagome didn't look like she liked that idea very much but she nodded "Be careful, InuYasha." He nodded to his wife and took off in the direction of the tracks. He noticed that Sesshomaru was also following them. "What are you doing, Sesshomaru? We both know that you don't particularly care for Takara." He didn't think his brother would answer but he did. "That may be true, but Rin is upset." Now it all made sense to him. He didn't care about Takara, but Rin did so he would help get her back.

They had been running for a while when the tracks branched off in two directions. It was getting harder and harder to follow Takara's fading scent and the sky was growing darker as a storm drew near. "We have to split up," he told his brother "You take one path and I'll take the other." Without response, Sesshomaru took the path to the right and InuYasha took the other. He could only hope that Sesshomaru didn't take his time finding Takara. As long as he brought her back in one piece for Rin, InuYasha wasn't too sure that his brother was concerned as to what condition she was in.

A dull pulsing in her head is what woke her up as well as a dry cottony feeling in her mouth. Slowly opening her eyes, Takara noticed that it was now light outside, but her surroundings were unfamiliar. Trying to sit up, she realized that she couldn't move her arms. Pulling harder she figured out fast that her wrists were tied together behind her back. When she tried to speak, she realized that she had been gagged and fear began to creep up her spine. She remembered last night and putting the horse away before she felt someone strike her and that was it. Whoever had captured her knew what she could do which is why they had to sneak up on her and went through the trouble of gagging her.

She heard footsteps approaching before she recognized an all too familiar voice. "Are you sure she's restrained?" Isamu was the one responsible for this.

She tried to calm her breaths and closed her eyes, she'd much rather not let him know that she was awake. Taking deep, even, breaths was hard to do, but she forced herself to execute them and appear as if she was sleeping.

"We are, My Lord. Although we may have hit her too hard, she has yet to wake." Another voice answered her. She heard the screen door slide open before two sets of footsteps entered. "You fool! I told you not to damage her!" he scolded his henchman "I have no use for a damaged woman to be my wife."

_Oh HELL NO!_ Takara mentally screamed. There was no way she was going to be this pathetic creep's wife. He was a moron and a coward. "We'll leave her for a little while longer. Perhaps by noon she will have woken up." Isamu paused "She is beautiful isn't she?" The man who was with him, chuckled. "Indeed my lord, and if you find that she has too much spirit then I would be more than happy to take her off your hands." With a chuckle, both men left the room closing the sliding screen.

Looking around the room where she was at. She noticed that her bow and arrows were lying right behind her. It seemed like those idiots hadn't thought to put her in a different room than her weapons. She only had to scoot back a little to grab ahold of one of her arrows. In no time at all she was sawing through the ropes that bound her hands, but there were a few of them.

She could feel she was on the last rope when she heard footsteps approaching again, but only one set this time. Turning so her back was facing away from the door, Takara watched it slide open to reveal Isamu. She glared at the man who smiled wickedly at her. "I see you are finally awake." He said moving in front of her. "I agree that I still owed you a favor, so I decided to repay you in the best way. I plan to make you my wife. What better way to repay you than to make you mine?"

If looks could have killed, Takara's would have slaughtered Isamu. She continued to use her arrow to saw through the rope as he reached towards her, but Takara kicked out at him, and she heard the sound of bones snapping before he cried out in pain. Her foot had connected with his fingers and bent them too far back. He snatched his hand back to him before he stood up. "You stupid bitch!" he yelled as he drew his foot back to kick her, but before he could move to kick her, someone outside yelled.

Isamu looked away from her while cradling his injured hand to his chest. Before he could open the screen door, someone came flying through it literally. Someone had been thrown through the door and hit the back wall with a groan. Fear was evident on the cowardly lord's face as he backed up away from the broken door and the most magnificent sight she had ever seen walked in the door. It was Sesshomaru and he looked pissed. The whites of his eyes had begun to glow red while his hand was glowing a toxic looking green.

She could have cried she was so happy to see him. He looked at her for a moment before he glared at the human cowering across the room. "What do you want demon?!" Sesshomaru growled at the human briefly before moving over to Takara. She sighed as his claws sliced through the last rope and she quickly removed the remnants of them away. She sat up, her arms aching as she reached up to take the gag out of her mouth. Before she could speak, Sesshomaru moved so quickly he had Isamu by the throat, holding him in the air. "You are lucky she is unharmed" Sesshomaru growled at the man. "Had you injured her any further, I would have taken my time killing you."

_Forget "But soft. What light through yonder window breaks"… That was too sweet_ Takara thought as she rubbed her wrists where they were raw from being restrained. "Forgive me" Isamu begged the terrifyingly angry demon. "I swear I'll never touch her again!" She didn't buy that one bit and neither did Sesshomaru. The man was a weasel, but she didn't want Sesshomaru to just kill him. Her relief came in the form of the old man she had spoken to yesterday.

"My lady, what happened?" he questioned as he entered the damaged building. "We saw the demon attack the gates, but recognized him from yesterday. Tell me are you alright?" He was on his knees examining her injured wrists. "Well honestly, if it hadn't been for you lord I would be sitting peacefully at home right now, not tied up." She told the old man "He thought marrying me would be doing me a favor, but I take that as an insult." The old man looked to his lord, his expression mad before he stood up and waved some more people in. It seemed like every man in the village was there. "Lord Isamu, it is decided. You will no longer have any hold to this town or its people. All you own will be distributed in order to pay for the damages your greed has brought to this village." With that, Sesshomaru threw the sniveling fool to his former servants who drug him kicking and screaming out of the building.

Sesshomaru seemed to calm once the man was out of view and turned to look at her as Takara stood up. "Are you alright?" he asked, not making any moves to approach, but that didn't stop Takara. "I knew you'd come for me!" she shouted and hugged his fur. "Thank you fluffy!" Sesshomaru growled at her and she laughed. "Oh yeah you were great too Sesshomaru." His eyes narrowed at her and she smiled even wider. "I was just teasing you." He didn't think it was too funny it seemed so she moved in front of him and wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "All jokes aside, thank you for saving me, Sesshomaru; today and yesterday." He had stiffened when she first embraced him but once she thanked him she felt his body relax. She sighed and turned her head to rest it on his chest, not minding that his armor was incredibly uncomfortable.

"We must leave." He told her a moment later "A storm is approaching." Takara released him and nodded before she went to pick up her bow and arrows, placing the one she had used to saw through some of the ropes back into her quiver. Quickly she followed him out of the house and into the woods. He seemed to be avoiding the road.

She wanted to ask him an hour later why they weren't on the road as thunder cracked overhead, but decided not to since he had gone through the trouble to save her. The least she could do was avoid irritating him further even though she really wanted to ask if they were there yet every few minutes. It was tough, but she kept her mouth shut. He slowed down a bit as they began descending a pretty steep hill before he stopped at the entrance of a cave that overlooked the small valley below it. "It will rain soon." He informed her. "We will wait here for the storm to pass." Takara sighed but agreed with him. She didn't want to spend a couple of hours walking in the rain. She gathered an arm load of wood and set it down in the cave and got a small fire going before she went out to gather a little extra just in case.

She strayed a little bit away from the cave to pick up dead limbs, but made sure not to wander too far from Sesshomaru and to watch her footing on the hill. Going tumbling downhill probably wouldn't be so bad, but climbing back up the hill was what she worried about. She found a few mushrooms that were edible along the way and took those back too. She felt a few raindrops on her head as she headed back inside and set the mushrooms up to cook before she stepped back outside and looked up to the sky.

She closed her eyes and just felt the wind caressing her cheek as the thunder gently rumbled overhead. Sesshomaru was definitely right. She could feel the rain in the wind, not that she had doubted him, but it was nice to feel it for herself. "The rain will start soon." Sesshomaru told her from the cave. He had placed his fur against the wall and was currently leaning against the cave wall. "I know" she told him as she faced forward and the rain drops started coming down harder. "Then why are you still standing there?" he asked patiently. "I like the rain" she told him as several drops caressed her face. "When my brothers would upset me, I would go outside when it was raining so they couldn't see my tears. I know I could get sick from it, but being reckless is part of being human."

She shrugged and opened her eyes as the rain really started coming down and tears threatened to fall at the memories it held. She missed her family and she didn't want Sesshomaru to see her cry. The truth was, that stunt Isamu had pulled had really scarred her and she had wished then that her brothers were there to keep her safe. She sighed as the rain washed away the few tears that had fell and just felt.

The next thing she knew, Sesshomaru was beside her the rain soaking his silver hair, and pure white kimono while running over his armor. He turned her to face him, shocked at his sudden movements as he gently grabbed her chin, his amber eyes seemed to look into her soul. If she could've thought at that moment, she probably would have made some smart comment about the smell of wet dog, but she was currently mesmerized. She hadn't given him too much thought since their first meeting, but seeing him here in the rain, his silver hair wet and his bangs beginning to cover his molten, honey colored eyes made her realize just how devastatingly handsome he was; demon or not.

He lowered his head a little, not letting go of her chin as he continued to stare into her eyes and Takara realized then that she was melting in his hands. "I never liked the rain." He told her before his lips were on hers. She only hesitated a moment before she closed her eyes and answered his kiss. She wasn't sure if the rumble she heard next was the thunder or his growl as one of his clawed hands rested gently on her head before the other wrapped around her lower back and pulled her tighter to him. Instantly, Takara moved her arms to hold his strong shoulders, pulling him closer as well.

His kiss wasn't gentle, but intense. She felt as he used his lips, his tongue, and even his fangs against her. She shivered and it wasn't because of the summer rain. He ran his slightly rougher tongue across her bottom lip, then her top lip before he ran it across their seam and she didn't hesitate to open to him. Sesshomaru took complete and total possession of her mouth, his rough tongue caressing and dancing with her own, and the wild, untamed, and earthy taste of him lingered there. She pulled back slightly to catch her breath, but his fangs gently caught her lip ensuring that she didn't retreat far as she caught her breath. He didn't need to stop her, once she had somewhat caught her breath, she leaned back into him and he again took possession of her mouth with a snarl.

This time thought, he picked her up and carried her back into the shelter of the cave and out of the falling rain. She probably should have been concerned when he laid her down on his fur which had been warmed from her small fire, especially when he came down on top of her, never breaking their kiss until lack of air, again, had her looking away from him. A deep rumbling growl came from him as he panted and assaulted the exposed skin of her neck. She couldn't help but allow small gasps and moans to escape her as he showered her neck with small licks, kisses and gentle nips with his fangs.

She almost groaned in frustration when he stopped at her collar bone, but she didn't. Instead she turned to look back into his entrancing eyes and his mind seemed to be in turmoil. She could practically feel the ice returning to him with a vengeance and that worried her. "Please don't Sesshomaru" she pleaded, wrapping an arm around his neck, a feeble attempt to hold him to her on her part, and placed a hand on the side of his face to caress his cheek. He was so strong that it felt as if a knife pressed against her heart as the briefest flicker of pain flashed through his amber eyes before he closed them, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

Unable to help herself, Takara, wrapped both arms around his neck and held him tightly. "Who hurt you?" she asked him and even before he stiffened she spoke again "Never mind, don't tell me." He was silent but he didn't pull away from her. "It would probably just piss me off." She felt him huff, possibly a half ass attempt at a laugh. "Why is that?" he asked gently licking her neck. "Because you're so strong that it would piss me off to think that someone managed to truly hurt you." He still made no move to look at her. "You pity me?" he questioned sounding a little angry. "Never" she did her best to reassure him with the truth. "I admire how strong you are with your emotions. I wish I had the fraction of the control you had. If I did I wouldn't end up crying so much." She smiled "But alas, I am but a mere mortal and unable to contain your level of control." She felt that little huff again as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

Gently she gathered up his wet, silky, silver hair and wrung some of the water out of it while he kept holding her. It was like he refused to let her go and it didn't bother her at all. He wasn't a demon of many words, but he always threw her for a loop each time he decided to speak.

"The first time I saw you, I thought you were summoned up from my own personal hell." He told her, no emotion in his voice at all. She remained silent. "You look exactly like a human woman I knew a long time ago." Takara hugged him tightly; almost afraid of what he was going to say. "I was young at the time, still a pup in many ways. I was foolish and took her away from her home." He almost sighed. "I cared for her and we had a child together, but I was careless. Her father found them while I was away and burned them alive."

Shocked, Takara couldn't stop the tears from falling her eyes as she cried in earnest. No wonder he was so cold to humans. "Why are you crying?" he asked finally raising up to look at her. "Because you won't." The ice slowly melted from his eyes again as he placed his forehead to hers wiping away the tears yet again. "There is no point in shedding tears over what cannot be changed." Takara took a deep breath trying to reign in her tears. "You see, this is what I mean. I wasn't even the one who was hurt, but I still can't keep myself from crying." She smiled up at him "And, just so you know, not all tears are pointless. There are several uses for them." He arched a brow at her. "Are there?" he asked.

Takara smiled and nodded. "For instance, when I was afraid to go to school, I simply cried to my dad and he didn't make me go." She thought for a moment "Then when I hit my brothers and would go crying to my dad and told him I had been hit and of course he believed me." Sesshomaru smirked. "You sound like a troublemaker" and Takara shrugged. She couldn't deny that. "Then when my mom died, my dad told me not to cry, but my grandmother told me to cry because some tears cleanse the soul and ease some of the pain." She thought back on that. "I remember I told my dad that a few years later when my oldest brother was having a fight with his wife. I was sitting on the floor and listening to them talk and I'll never forget what my dad told my brother." Takara wasn't sure if this memory was happy or sad, but either way it was comforting. "He told my brother "You should get down on your knees and thank the stars that you have someone to go home to. You don't know about lonely, until it's chiseled in stone."" Takara shrugged. "I sat there for a little while after my brother had left and told my dad what my grandmother had told me. He gave me a hug and cried a little, but he wasn't as sad after that."

Sesshomaru seemed to think about that for a moment before he nodded. "Your father is right." He looked at her for another moment before he said with all honesty. "Do not expect me to change. It has been too many years and change doesn't come easy to demons." She sighed but nodded, she hadn't expected him to change. His eyes narrowed at her "You will say nothing of what I just told you to anyone." Takara realized then that he had kept this pain to himself for so long and her heart broke just a little more for this powerful dog demon. "I'm sorry. I seem to have had a lapse in my feeble mortal memory. Say anything about what?" He kept his eyes narrowed at her and she suppressed a laugh. "You know I could probably forget my name if you kissed me again. That's a very effective way for you to get me to shut up." He smirked again and leaned down to kiss her again. She hadn't been lying when she had said he could make her forget her name. If he could kiss this good, she could only imagine how skilled he was in various other activities.


	9. The Dragon's Forge

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 9- The Dragon's Forge**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

The rain was still coming down as Takara sat opposite of the fire from Sesshomaru eating her mushrooms. He was quiet as usual but at least he didn't seem to be brooding. Takara hated when he did that. It had been a good thing she had gathered a few extra mushrooms because the first two had burnt up while she was wrapped up with Sesshomaru, but now she was dry and warm; her kimono had to dry a bit from being in the rain as did Sesshomaru's and she was glad she couldn't see herself. She was probably a mess, but Sesshomaru looked as perfect as ever and she sighed. Why couldn't her hair be like his? Her hair was soft, true, but there was something about how the silver white strands felt on her fingertips.

A flash of red in the distance caught her eye and there was no mistaking that it was InuYasha. "Just so we are on the same page, I've been annoying the hell out of you so that is why we stopped here." She told Sesshomaru, he arched a brow but nodded. He knew that she wasn't going to let InuYasha know anything had transpired between them.

It wasn't long before the drenched half demon stepped into the cave. It was heartwarming to know that InuYasha had also been searching for her in this weather. "Takara, what the hell happened?" he demanded stepping closer. She had bit her tongue long enough as she covered her nose and looked over to Sesshomaru. "You see? This is why I wanted to stop. I hate the smell of wet dog." InuYasha growled at her and she laughed. "You know I can't smell you InuYasha. I was just teasing." When he suddenly sat down and shook to get rid of some of the water, Takara laughed even harder.

InuYasha glared at her. "What happened, Takara? Everyone has been looking for you?" She sighed "Oh you know, the usual, I just happened to get myself kidnapped. I think I may start making a habit of it to get a few thrills." She rolled her eyes at the angry half demon before her before she told him what had happened and how Sesshomaru had rescued her. "And despite his gallant rescue, I couldn't help but irritate him. He didn't really like how I kept asking "Are we there yet?" over and over" InuYasha huffed and looked at his brother. "He only came after you because Rin was upset." Takara put a finger over his lips to silence him. "Don't tell me that." She told him. "I am trying to convince him he did it because we are best friends." The irritated look on InuYasha's face was priceless. Yeah… ok…sure." With that Takara let out a yawn and moved to lie down. "Wake me up when it stops raining" she yawned to them "And please don't try and kill each other while I'm asleep."

Takara didn't know how long she slept, but something against her cheek made a wonderful pillow. It was soft, fluffy, and smelled delicious; like the woods after a storm. "Are you sure, you don't want to wake her up, Sesshomaru?" she heard InuYasha ask and that was when she figured out that the steady rocking motion she felt was Sesshomaru walking. "I do not want her awake." Sesshomaru replied "She doesn't stop talking while she is." Takara almost laughed. Sesshomaru was rather good at playing this game.

She could feel the sunlight fading on her face a little while later. That was when she finally opened her eyes and saw the village not far off in the distance. Takara smiled up at Sesshomaru as he looked down to meet her eyes. Those molten honey eyes could bring a woman to her knees, especially now as the sunset danced in them. "You awake?" InuYasha asked her, but she didn't look away from the demon carrying her. "So… are we there yet?" she asked him sweetly and he growled at her just before he almost dumped her on her ass. Takara quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed. Perhaps he was a little too good at this game. She released his neck and she realized that she actually had to drop a bit to hit the ground. _Damn he's tall_ she thought, holding onto him as she righted herself.

"TAKARA!" she heard someone screaming her name and saw Rin running towards her but the little girl was quickly overtaken by a blur of black. "Kaos," she yelled holding out her hand to try and stop him but it was useless. The next thing she knew he had launched his big body at her and knocked her down, effectively knocking the breath out of her. Then all she could feel was his warm tongue on her face as he whined pitifully. "No Kaos! No more of "the kisses"" she laughed as she tried to push him away, but he came right back until another body fell onto her. "Takara are you ok?" Rin asked her and she could feel the little girls tears on her neck. Takara merely nodded, not because she was unable to speak but because she thought she was going to experience the French version of "the kisses" if she did. She laughed to herself _There's only one dog that gets to do that…_

It was a little while later before Takara finally managed to drag herself from the ground and to Kaede's hut. The old priestess had been kind enough to prepare her dinner and that was finally when everyone quieted. That night Takara laid down to sleep, Rin on one side of her and Kaos on the other, only she found herself unable to sleep. Thoughts of Sesshomaru plagued her mind. She couldn't imagine suffering the pain he had all alone for as long as he had. It was no wonder he had come to resent humans so much. At least now she understood why he has disliked her so much when they had first met. Well according to Rin, he really liked her and that's when a disturbing thought occurred to her. Did he only like her because she resembled the woman he had once loved? Did he see Takara when he looked at her, or did he see the other woman? With those questions as her final thoughts, Takara fell into an uneasy sleep.

The following day, Takara sat alone underneath an old oak, her mind still abuzz with questions, but afraid to ask them for fear of Sesshomaru becoming angry of the reminder of his past.

She hadn't been sitting there long before Sesshomaru suddenly stood before her. "Why are you out here?" he asked "Rin has been looking for you." She glanced up at him and felt jealousy rear its ugly hair as she looked at the devastatingly handsome demon before her. "Well, I am currently thinking about a few things. I don't make a habit of it, you know, thinking. It's kind of painful for me." She answered with a little smile before she stood up. "I should probably go and find her before she starts to worry, huh?"

Before she could move away from him, he held out something to her. Takara held out a hand, giving a curious look that turned to surprise as he placed a comb in her hands. It resembled Ivory, and Takara prayed that it really wasn't. There were little flowers carved into the top of the comb with a few little birds around them and she hoped that those little birds weren't really sapphires.

Looking from the comb to the demon lord before her, she wasn't even able to get a word out before he spoke. "I would be displeased if you cut your hair simply because you didn't have a comb" he explained before he turned abruptly and left. Takara didn't know when the flush had spread to her cheeks, but it was definitely there. If she hadn't been so flustered, she probably would have made some comment about him spying on them while they had been in the bath a while ago. Her heart skipped a few beats before she made her way into the village after him. He probably intended to let Rin know where she was, but instead of looking for the little girl, Takara made her way back to Kaede's hut and began to comb the tangles from her hair.

It took a few minutes to work them free, but once she did, she picked up a pair of polished chopsticks that Kagome had gotten her to put her hair up with while they worked in the fields. Putting her hair into a low ponytail, Takara twisted her long hair into a bun before she maneuvered one of the chopsticks into her hair to hold it in place then added another one opposite of the other. Her bangs weren't quite long enough to put up yet, so they hung freely mostly to one side of her face. She looked at the comb in her hands for a moment before she secured it to the top of her bun.

Not even a moment later, Rin came busting through the door. "Takara where were you?" she questioned. "I just needed some alone time, Rin. I have a lot I need to think about." Takara told her, giving her a little pat on the head. "What kind of stuff do you need to think about?" she asked giving Takara a reassuring hug. "Well, like about how I'm stuck here. I know it could be worse, but I lost the life I had and now I have to deal with that change. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the extra time and responsibility that has been given to me as well." Rin seemed to ponder that for a moment. "You're not happy here?" Takara shrugged. "Well, I'm not unhappy to be here, so that's a start. I just miss my family."

"Did you have any brothers or sisters?" Rin asked as she moved to sit in Takara's lap. "I didn't have any sisters, but I did have a lot of older brothers. I have eight of them." Rin's eyes widened at that. "That's a lot of brothers." Takara nodded. "Yeah, the running joke in my mom's family was that all the women were cursed. If you were to trace my mother's family tree, you would find that the youngest child is always a girl who has one more child than her mother. Being next in line, I'm supposed to have ten children and that is NOT going to happen." Rin giggled "Is that why you don't want to marry anyone?" Takara nodded as a shiver coursed through her. "I can't imagine putting myself through that."

With that, Rin stood up and gave Takara another hug around her neck. "Well I think you would be a good mother. You remind me of mine." She probably didn't even understand how much that small statement made Takara feel so much better. "You should keep your hair like that, Takara. It's pretty." Without another word the little girl picked up Kaos' ball and throwing stick and ran out of the hut yelling to the other children to come and play with the dog.

A while later, Takara stepped out of the hut to go find Rin and the other children of the small village. Lately they had all taken to playing on the dragon bones of Takara's defeated foe. It was amusing to see how much entertainment they all could get from jumping over them and making each other and especially Kaos jump over them. They weren't able to budge them, so Takara didn't worry too much about them knocking them over onto one another, but her she was now getting an idea.

"SAH LOK NIR!" she shouted the dragon's name as she walked away from the group of children and into another field. Within two minutes, she heard the dragon's answering roar before a streak of deep, glittering blue appeared against the light blue of the sky. His landing shook the earth a bit as he landed, but other than that he made no noise.

"I had begun to think that you had forgotten how enamoring my company was, little one." He purred leaning down so Takara could pet his snout. "What can I do for you, Vulombrii?" He then settled his long body down and wrapped his tail behind her to provide a seat. "I ran into another dragon two days ago." She began, but the dragon simply smiled "It is alright you sought another, and possibly less intimidating creature to spend your time with, I forgive you, but next time I insist you come to me if you are feeling a bit… lonely." Takara couldn't help but flush at his outrageous accusation. "That's not what I meant and you know it!" she scolded him but Sahloknir only laughed in earnest. "I know," he chuckled at last, "do continue, Dovahkiin."

Sighing she continued. "Do you know a dragon by the name of Yolheimin?" Sahloknir scratched his chin as he thought. "Yes although I haven't heard that name in many years. He is Fire Kin and a master smith. No dragon can forge a finer sword or armor than he." The deep blue dragon seemed to think back to earlier years. "I may still have a blade that he forged for me as well somewhere in my hoard." Takara thought for a moment "Could you take me to him? I have a favor to ask of him." With a nod, Sahloknir agreed. "Give me a few minutes," she told him as she stood up off of his tail "I have to let the others know where I'm going so that I don't worry them."

Takara jogged back into the village where she met Kaede in her hut and explained to the old priestess where she was going. "I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I will be back. Tell Rin not to worry for me." Takara then slung her backpack onto her shoulders and the bag with her bow and arrows onto her shoulder before she ran off back to Sahloknir. By the time she reached him, he was standing and waiting for her. "Hold onto me tightly, Vulombrii" he warned her as she settled onto his back. He may have appeared slender, but he was too wide for her to wrap her legs around so she clung to one of his spines and gave them the okay. As soon as she nodded, she closed her eyes and waited. She only felt a little lurch before she felt him tilting his body up and a moment later, it felt as if he had leveled out. "You may open your eyes, Dovahkiin and see the world as only a Dovah can."

Upon opening her eyes, Takara's breath was stolen away as clouds lingered just out of her reach, while below her the world was quickly flowing beneath them. She had never seen such a beautiful sight, but that still didn't mean she was going to keep her eyes open while Sahloknir landed about an hour later. She did, however, refrain from screaming as the Earth seemed to get closer and closer before her mount touched down with a thump that rattled her teeth.

Upon looking at their surroundings, Takara took note that they were in a quaint little thicket that lay before the opening to a massive cave. It was not at all what she had expected a dragon's lair to look like. "Call to him before you go too far inside," Sahloknir told her settling down in the thicket "We don't want him to think you're trying to sneak in. Tell him that I am here too so that he doesn't believe me a threat as well." With a nod, Takara stepped into the cave, it was nice and cool with a few lit torches along the wall. "Yolheimin?!" she called out to him. She was afraid he hadn't heard her, but then the sound of scraping against the ground and a few soft thumps where heard and she knew that he was coming. "It's me, Takara and I've brought Sahloknir with me." With a few more soft thuds, Yolheimin's head came into view, glittering in the torchlight.

"Drem Yol Lok, greetings Dovahkiin," he purred to her "How may I be of assistance?" He turned his head to the cave entrance and let out a soft growl which Sahloknir returned before he returned his burgundy eyes back to her. "I was wondering, and I know it may be a tender subject for you, but could you forge me a sword?" She could see that her question surprised the large, ruby scaled creature but he thought for a moment. "Why would you ask this of me, Dovahkiin? You do not seem like one who would fight in battles, so why would you need a weapon besides your bow?" Those were indeed reasonable questions. "I was captured by our favorite lord the night before last" she began and both Sahloknir and Yolheimin growled lowly. "Even if I had known his men were behind me, I couldn't have defended myself at close distance with my bow and arrows very effectively." The red dragon nodded at this, thinking over his decision. He finally seemed to reach a conclusion.

"I will not forge a weapon for you." He told her and she had to admit that she was a bit disappointed. "However," he continued, "I will teach you to forge your own weapon." That took her for a loop, but before she could object, he growled something to Sahloknir in dragon speech and then ushered her deeper into his cave. "What did you say to him?" she questioned the red dragon who kept nudging her gently deeper into the cave. "I asked him to fetch me the bones of some of our kin and to inform your companions that you would be remaining with me for a time while you learn to forge dragon bones." With a sigh, Takara hurried in front of the dragon. Rin wouldn't be very happy about this and neither would Kaos.

They finally exited the long tunnel into a well-lit cavern. It was much warmer here than the cave entrance and Takara felt a bit of sweat forming on her brow. "You may stay in that alcove" Yolheimin nodded to his right, but it was what stood to her left that left her astounded. It was a dragon sized forge that seemed to be carved out of the stone of the cave they were in. It was shaped into the beautiful form of a dragon. Its mouth was agape in a silent roar while the base of the forge was formed from its coiled body. Its arms were the supports to two long and high benches that held an assortment of things on top of them. "It's beautiful" she whispered, admiring the forge. "I made that forge many, many years ago" Yolheimin told her as he nudged her to the alcove. "Change into different clothes if you do not wish for those to be destroyed."

Quickly, Takara changed into the jeans and T-shirt she had come to this time in. It would be easier to move in these, but she wasn't sure how safe it would be to work around fire. She could only trust Yolheimin had thought of this. She looked around the room Yolheimin had given her and thought that it would do perfectly for her. There was a futon in the back of the room, tucked away neatly with a small fresh water spring in the corner. Other than that the room was empty. She then headed back out to the main chamber where Yolheimin was waiting patiently for her.

"So where do we start?" she asked the dragon with a smile. "There are things you must learn before we start working to forge your sword, Dovahkiin." Takara nodded. She had expected that she would have to earn the right to forge her sword. "It will be difficult to begin with, but in the end the sword you forge will truly be your own." He paused and settled down. "You see, what many do not realize is that for them to truly understand their blade of to forge one of their own, although this is because many do not have the skill to do so. I will teach you all you need to know." He then motioned to a large, empty basin with his tail where two buckets sat. "First, take both of those buckets to the lake at the end of the tunnel behind it, fill them with water and dump them in the basin." Takara nodded and walked over to the basin, realizing that it was a lot bigger up close than it had appeared. "You will do this several days until the basin is filled." He chuckled at Takara's shocked look. "Do not fret, Dovahkiin. You will be allowed to rest, but the quicker you fill the tub, the quicker you earn the right to forge your sword."

Takara thought about his words as she walked down the fairly steep path to the lake. _The right to forge my sword_ she thought. _He must take a lot of pride in his work_. Then again, why shouldn't he? In order to forge a sword from dragon bones, there had to first be a dead dragon which meant that one had to first possess the prowess to defeat a foe before the bones could be obtained. To slay a dragon was no simple task either. It must take a dragon strong of heart to slay their own kin, good or evil.

The lake at the bottom of the slope was large and she could feel the drastic change in temperature as the cooler air cooled the sweat from her brow that the forge cavern had gathered on her skin. Looking at the two small buckets in her hands, they were nothing compared to the large basin that Yolheimin wanted her to fill, so with a sigh she dipped both buckets into the water before hauling them back up the hill. _Two down only about half a million to go…_


	10. A Sword to Call My Own

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 10 A Sword to call my own.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

To say that the next few weeks that went by were easy would have been a lie. Never had Takara worked so hard for anything, but every day she spent her time hauling up water from the lake while learning the meanings behind new words of power that Yolheimin and Sahloknir both taught her. It seemed like her blue scaled friend had decided to stay and keep the both of them company, not that she minded at all. Each day that passed, Takara was able to learn the new words for Shouts that she would be able to use in battle should she ever have need of them, although she hoped she never would.

At the end of each day she was just as exhausted as the last, but when she had finally managed to fill up the basin, Yolheimin had poured some of it into a smaller basin and set in on the far side of the room. She was irritated, but bit her tongue and continued the next day to refill the first basin. Yolheimin did feed her and care for her while she worked after all. At the end of the day when her muscles ached from the work, he made sure she had a meal ready for her in her alcove which she devoured before she went and made a final trip to the lake to wash herself in a smaller, separate spring of cool water and washed her clothes before heading back to her little bed and fell into an exhausted sleep.

When the basin of water had been filled, the next task Yolheimin gave her was to beat the dust out of the fine rugs he had pulled from his hoard. Takara felt like she was doing housework, but kept her mouth shut and did as he instructed. He must have really liked rugs, because he seemed to have a lot of them. He had set up three rows of posts and rope along the length of the cavern and draped the rugs along all three lengths of rope. He instructed her to beat them out, facing certain directions and using the amount of swings that he would give her on each rug. This went on for almost two weeks before he moved her on to another task.

The ruby beast had pulled several large boulders into the center of the forge cavern and handed Takara a hammer with instruction to break them. This task proved to be even more daunting than the water hauling. It took her almost a week to figure out how to effective break down the large stones with just a hammer. She had learned that once she initially broke the surface of one stone, she needed only to follow the fault lines that ran from it to break down the stone. She began to look for the weak spots and imperfections within the stones and used them to her advantage. Once she had learned how to turn the boulders into rubble, the following six of them all were reduced to the same pile of destruction within another week.

It had been almost two months since Takara had left the village and she had to admit that she missed everyone. As much as InuYasha irritated her, she missed her games with the half demon and Kagome. She missed the sounds of the children playing, and she especially missed Rin's squeals and giggles as she played with Kaos. Boy did she miss her furry friend. She couldn't remember a time when she had been away from him for more than a few days at most. She wondered if he would even remember her after so long.

It seemed like it had been an eternity when Yolheimin finally announced that she was ready to begin work on her sword. Sahloknir had brought with him a few visits ago a good number of the bones from the Earth dragon Takara had slain. He then handed her a garment that resembled an apron along with a set of gloves that he claimed were made from dragon scales for protection against the flames.

With instructions to place a few of the bones into the hot coals of a smaller forge Yolheimin had taken the time to build for her, Takara began to heat the bones like she was being instructed. It was amazing to watch the bones heat up and glow like metal did. Once they began to glow almost as red as the coals, Yolheimin instructed her to remove one piece at a time and to lie it on the anvil before giving her instruction on how to hammer the material.

By the end of the first day, she had succeeded into making two rectangular blocks, but according to Yolheimin, this was no time to rest. He allowed Takara to eat the meal he had prepared for her and a brief nap before he woke her to continue her work.

All night and into the next morning, Yolheimin coached her on how to form her sword's blade; apparently the hilt would come after the blade was finished. Now she understood the purpose for all of those seemingly pointless tasks. The hauling water had served to both build up her strength as well as to bring water to fill the basins had been needed for the cooling of the bones. The beatings she had given the rugs had helped her in aiming the placements of her swings for the hammer. It helped her form the shape of the blade. Finally the breaking of the boulders had shown her where to find the weak points in the bones she was forging.

Finally by noon on the second day, Yolheimin was satisfied with how the blade had come out and rewarded her with a feast followed by a long rest. That night she slept a fulfilling and dreamless sleep. The past few months-worth of sleep had been filled with hammers, rocks, rugs, and buckets. Needless to say it was nice not to dream for once, just to rest.

"Wake up, little one" Yolheimin's voice woke her the next day. "Today we finish your sword, we have to fit it with a hilt. Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Takara then placed her hair up with the chopsticks and comb as she did every day and followed the sound of Yolheimin's voice. Stretching, she walked over to Yolheimin and hugged his large snout like she had taken to doing a few weeks into the training. "Good morning" she greeted him as she scratched the ridge above one of his eyes. He allowed her to caress him for a few minutes before he lifted his head and told her to follow him. They passed the forge and that was when she saw a tunnel leading behind the sculpted forge.

They walked down a maze of tunnels before they finally came to where Yolheimin had been leading her to. What she saw then took her breath away. It was a cavern larger that the forge cavern and it was filled with piles of gold, silver, and jewels of all kinds. This was Yolheimin's hoard. "Amazing…" she breathed. While there was probably more gold here than had been in King Tut's tomb, Takara couldn't possibly fathom the reason behind such vast amounts of treasure, so she asked. "What do you do with all of this?" she asked him "Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, but what do you use it for?"

The dragon settled down on a pile of gold and watched her as she looked around the room. "What would you do with it?" he questioned her as she observed various pieces. "I wouldn't want it, honestly" she answered as she bent down and studied what appeared to be an amethyst the size of a baseball. "My life would be in danger all the time from greedy people. I wouldn't be able to even sleep at night without the fear of dying." She bent down and put the amethyst back down picked up an emerald that was next to it. Yolheimin didn't speak as he watched her inspect various pieces of his collection.

"Hey" she said as she picked up another piece. "My mom had a set of these, except they were a little smaller." She showed it to Yolheimin. It was an ivory elephant that fit in the palm of her hand. "There were two of them and then two jade tigers… Like these!" she exclaimed as she found one of the tigers. Holding them in her hands brought back memories, one in particular. "The only memory I have of my mom is when we were playing with these when I was really little. I'm not even sure how I remember that. I was so young."

"What happened to your mother, little one?" Yolheimin asked as Takara placed the little pieces back where she had gotten them. "She died when I was little. She was very sick and after having nine kids, her body wasn't in the best shape." Takara sighed. "I've always kind of blamed myself for how she died. I feel like if I hadn't been born then she would have had time to build up her strength before she was diagnosed." She had never told her dad that, never told anyone that to be honest, but then again had never bothered to ask, not that Yolheimin did, but he caught her at a moment when she was thinking about her mom.

"I am sorry for your loss. I know it is hard to lose your kin, but to answer your question I use my treasure for the same purpose all dragons use it. It calms us." Before she could ask how he called her over to him and settled her down between his forelimbs. "Close your eyes, Vulombrii, and listen." Takara moved to prop herself against one of his red forelimbs, closed her eyes and listened. She wasn't sure what she was listening for but it wasn't long before she found out.

She could hear the strong, steady rhythm of Yolheimin's heart to begin with followed by a low rumble in his chest, not quite strong enough to be a purr but yet not silent either. That's when it began, little twinkles of sound from the room around her. It was as if each piece of treasure now had its own voice and it all resonated around them. It was a relaxing symphony that called out to her very soul. She didn't know how long it went on for and she really didn't care either but as the rumbling sound in Yolheimin's chest quieted, so did the twinkling of the room around her.

"That was beautiful…" she whispered looking up to the dragon. "You see, Dovahkiin, these treasures were once parts of the Earth which we dragons are the spirits of, in different forms; Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, and Water. For some they are meaningless objects, used to display one's wealth, but for few, like your elephants, they are the treasures they are meant to be. Each piece of my hoard was taken from those who did not value their pieces of the Earth." He looked down to her. "I bring them here to erase their pain and to bring myself comfort."

If she hadn't just heard their music with her own ears, she might have been skeptical, but after that performance there was no convincing her otherwise. Yolheimin leaned his large head down to her. "I noticed your comb as soon as you walked in." he purred. "I could feel its saddening song lessening by the day. I knew then that you treasured it as it deserved to be." Takara reached up and felt the comb that Sesshomaru had given her and smiled. The massive ruby dragon was right; she did treasure her little comb that Sesshomaru had given her.

"Now then, we must choose an item to use and forge into the hilt of your blade." Takara gave him a wide eyed look. He wanted to give her something from his hoard? It was as if he knew what she was thinking. "You have a big heart, Vulombrii. I know anything given to you would be cherished." He bumped her back with his snout "Now go and find something to use."

She didn't even know where to start! There were piles and piles of treasure to sort through… or was there. She closed her eyes and thought back to the music that had surrounded her a few moments ago and remembered a few sad sounding twinkles that had come from her left. She climbed to the tops of one of the piles and slid down the other side with a giggle. Looking against the far corner of the cave there was a piece of black metal lying on top of one of the smaller piles. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be the hilt of a broken sword.

As soon as she wrapped her hand around the cool, dark metal she knew it was what she wanted as her hilt. "An interesting choice," Yolheimin spoke from behind her. "That blade was broken many years ago and the hilt cast aside. I have been unable to ease its pain, but perhaps its true desire is to again be whole." Takara nodded an inspected the hilt, it didn't seem to be anything too spectacular, which was a large part of reason she had chosen it. There were grooves and divots that seemed to have once held jewels of some sort, but now it was bare except for a few strange carvings on both sides where it joined to the sword, but other than that, it appeared to be just a black piece of metal.

Takara followed Yolheimin back out to the Forge cavern and over to her little forge where the broken hilt was tossed into the fire. Again, Takara was following Yolheimin's instruction for a bit, but once she had the basic shape down he instructed her to reform the groove that had originally run up the length of the hilt. So Takara made a spiral groove that wound all the way up the swords' hilt, but before she could dunk it to cool Yolheimin had yet another surprise for her. Lifting up the scales that guarded his heart, he used one claw to cut through the skin there, but to her surprise, the wound didn't bleed; instead it glowed. Reaching his clawed hand into the light near his heart, Yolheimin pulled. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but it wasn't a glowing strip of what appeared to be flesh. Before she could speak, the great beast dropped his scales back into place and moved the strip of flesh to the sword. "Ro Kun Vul…" he told it as it wound itself around the hilt.

"Quickly, Dovahkiin, grab the blade and join it with the hilt. Holding the dull, unsharpened blade in one hand, Takara placed it into the grove of the hilt where it was supposed to be joined before she began hammering the two pieces together for a perfect fit. With that she dunked the hilt into the water to cool it, but when she pulled it out was when she noticed that the hilt was still the same dark metal, but what was wrapped around the hilt was the same as her bowstring.

"Now your blade shall be guided as your bow is" Yolheimin told her as he examined the fruits of their labor. "Now you will not be led astray during battle." That was a relief to Takara. She didn't want to be the one to end anyone's life, let alone an innocent person's life, and it was pretty cool seeing that a dragon's heartstring was indeed a heartstring from a dragon.

For the rest of the day, Yolheimin showed Takara how to both sharpen and care for her new blade. Since it wouldn't cut anyone that was not an enemy, it didn't require a sheath, but instead, Yolheimin went through the trouble to forge her a little belt to go with it.

That evening when Sahloknir entered the forge cave, he too revealed that he had been learning to forge as well. Taking the scales of a defeated Thunder Kin, he had forged, with Yolheimin's help of course, a set of dragon scale armor. The scales of the Thunder Kin were a deep black that glistened in the light with a few shades of blue scattered about. "I thought it would match your pretty eyes" Sahloknir purred as she emerged from her alcove for them to inspect its fitting. She almost hated the two dragons for knowing her size so well when she couldn't do that herself. Never had she been able to judge if clothing of any sort would fit her simply by looking at it.

The armor, however, had sort of a westernized look to it. The small scales resembled chainmail around her upper arms, neck, waist and thighs, while larger scales had been molded together to protect her back, chest and abdomen, her hands as well as her shoulders and feet. Best of all, it wasn't heavy in the slightest and it didn't hinder her mobility.

"Finally," Yolheimin began "What kind of teacher would I be if I did not show my student how to wield her blade?" "A horrible one" Sahloknir answered "And I would be more than happy to help you there." Next they ushered her outside of the cave, following right behind her. Before she could even ask how they were going to help, they both began to glow with a light that matched their scales as their forms shrank and changed. In the next instant, the two dragons stood before her in the forms of human men, devastating handsome human men. "I know, you don't have to tell me" Sahloknir began "We are the most handsome creatures you have ever lain eyes on." Takara laughed at his dramatic show. Oh yes, Sahloknir was quite the charmer, but he wasn't as handsome to her as Sesshomaru. No one could compare to him as far as looks went. The man was the demon form of Adonis. Yolheimin was a bit more modest and a bit more honest with Sahloknir. "Too bad for you she seems to think otherwise." He nodded his head in her direction. "She seems to have another male on her mind, so give up and draw your sword." That's when it began.

To complete her training, Takara spent one last week working on her swordsman ship and found that again all the little bits of training she had done to prepare to forge her sword had paid off. She was able to move faster and swing more accurately. She was also trained to look for weaknesses in her opponent's movements and armor. She wasn't an expert by any means, but she would be able to defend herself if the situation arose.

It had almost been three months since her time with Yolheimin had begun and summer was coming to an end. Now she needed to get back to the village to help prepare it for the cold winter ahead. Not to mention she had desperately missed her friends. With her bags packed, Takara hugged the human form of Yolheimin and thanked him for everything she had learned and he extended his welcome to her anytime she wished to visit him. Boarding Sahloknir, Takara realized that she couldn't wait to get back to the little village she had begun to think of as home.

She asked Sahloknir to set her down away from the village because she wanted to surprise Rin and the others. She waved goodbye to her blue scaled friend and headed down the road to the village. It took a little more than an hour for the little cluster of huts to come into view and the sound of the children playing and Kaos barking made her smile. At least her dog wasn't unhappy. She saw them playing in the field with the dog throwing his ball back and forth in a game of keep away.

Putting her fingers up to her lips, she whistled loudly to where her dog and the kids would hear her. They all seemed to freeze at the sound and turned to face her. She dropped her bags and knelt down. "You guys missed me?" she yelled to them and then they were charging to her, of course Kaos was in the lead. She was tackled by the happy canine and then dog piled by the village's children and nearly choked to death by Rin. She hadn't realized how much she had missed these guys until now and she really hadn't expected them to miss her as much as they appeared to have. She had to admit, it was kind of nice being missed; it meant they thought and cared about her.

"Takara!" Kagome's voice sounded above the children's questions and laughter. The next thing she knew, she was being pulled from the dog pile by InuYasha with Rin still firmly secured to her neck. "Rin, let go. You're making it hard to breathe." The wetness she felt at her neck told Takara that the little girl was crying. "I missed you, Takara. Please don't go away for that long again." It was touching that she truly missed her as much as she always had, but as soon as Rin released her, Takara found herself being crushed by Kagome. "I missed her too, Rin. You need to share" Kagome laughed giving Takara a tight hug.

"Kaede told us you would be gone for a while, but we were worried that we didn't know where you had gone." She released Takara then "We didn't know what you were up to until that blue dragon came to get the dragon bones." Her hair was suddenly being tussled by the half demon. "It's like you think that we couldn't protect you, idiot." That was his off the wall way of him telling her that he would do all that he could to protect her.

With a smile she gave the obnoxious guy a hug. "I know, InuYasha, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to do everything that I can to help you guys protect myself. I am kind of danger prone if you hadn't noticed." The group laughed at that as they all turned to head into the village, and quite a few things had changed in the few months since she had left. There were several new couples and it seemed that Shippou would be spending the cooler months in the village, but Takara knew better. The little fox demon just wanted to spend time with Rin who was inturn completely oblivious to the fox child's advances.

Another change was that Takara wouldn't be able to stay with Kaede anymore since the old priestess' hut was full with the addition of several village girls who were preparing to be married the following year. It seemed like their mothers were busy tending to several children that had been born that year and their hands were a little too full to be preparing their daughters to be wives and mothers themselves. She would have to find a place to stay for the winter but fortunately for her Kagome and InuYasha and some of the other villagers offered to build her a hut of her own despite many of the men being concerned for a woman living all alone with no man to defend her. That was kind of funny. After all she had been through, the men of the village might soon be coming to her for protection. Now she had only one person she had left to see was Sesshomaru.


	11. Reviving Many

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 11 – Reviving Many**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

The day Rin had come crying to him about Takara going away, Sesshomaru realized that he would miss the human girl more than he had thought he would. According to his younger brother, it wasn't a permanent thing. The blue beast, Sahloknir had come to inform them that Takara was training to better defend herself against any potential attackers that would have caused a repeat of the last time she had been captured. While he was more than willing to go and rescue her, it thrilled him that she had taken the initiative to learn to defend herself. That was something that had never occurred to Kimiko.

He had brought Rin a new kimono a month or so after Takara had left for her training and that was when he had an idea occur to him. He fully intended to court the fiery mortal at some point, and seeing that her life had been lengthened by defeating the young dragon, he had more than enough time to convince her to remain with him. When he had first met her, she had thrown his world off kilter. She had been a challenge to be around with that mouth of hers, but once she had shown him enough trust to allow him to comfort her, Sesshomaru knew that was when he had felt her warmth creeping into his heart, daring him to care again. He would probably never trust another with his heart completely, but he was willing to allow her to try should she desire to.

The only issue he had now would be where he would keep her. The only place he stayed when he was not traveling the land was his mother's palace above the clouds and it had been many years since he had even bothered to stay there. As a matter of fact, he had only been there for a few years after Kimiko had died and then once to see what his mother knew about Tenseiga. Other than that he roamed the land with no true place to call his home nor did he have anyone besides Jaken who he would trust with Takara. Her powers would be too appealing to many demons, so he would only have other humans as an option. The problem with that was not many humans would agree to serve a demon such as himself.

Perhaps he would have to find a way to convince them to aid him, but he would not be asking them. He may have wanted to keep Takara with him, but he would not sacrifice his pride to humans.

As he wandered the forests of his lands, he came upon a small little valley that would be a suitable location for a home to be built. There was a small stream the flowed from a small fall that spilled the cool waters from the mountain's depths that backed the valley. That meant that he would have one less side for them to defend should anyone choose to attack them. There were plenty of quiet human villages at the base of the mountain that would be able to provide her with the supplies that she could possibly need during her stay. They would also be able to provide the supplies to build a house with making their business a nice profit and allowing the land to prosper with the new influx of business.

Still the problem remained as to where to find human servants to build the home and to care for Takara. It was a vexing problem.

The answer came to him a few days after he had found the valley in which the home he wanted would be built. The smell of blood came to him on the wind along with the smell of demons. Ever curious, Sesshomaru went to investigate what a rouge demon was doing, killing on his land. It seemed to be no more than a mindless beast that was slaughtering the humans of a small village. It seemed to have already killed the younger human men of the village and was now working its way through the older ones to the women at the center. As soon as Tenseiga pulsed at his side, it dawned on him and he drew Bakusaiga. In one stroke he had annihilated the beast.

The screams of the village women were irritating as the beast flew into little pieces but as soon as the pieces settled to the ground their screams died, they looked to him with awe before more terror built in their eyes. "Which of you speaks for this village?" he asked them in the same flat tone that he used on every individual. An old man that had placed his frail body as a shield against the previous demon stepped forward with a hesitant step. "I am the village elder, demon. What do you want here? Have you come to finish the work of the creature you killed?" Sesshomaru had to hand it to the old human. He had spirit.

"I have come to make a deal with you. Perhaps your misfortunes can turn in your favor." Sesshomaru told him. The old man gave him a wary glance. "I will not hand over the women to you demon." The old man defiantly told him. Sesshomaru raised a brow "I do not want your women, but I will state my offer. " The old man nodded for him to go on. "There are two mortals in my care at present, but as winter is approaching, I need a home built for them." Sesshomaru paused as the old man seemed a bit surprised at his request and continued. "Here is what I offer you." Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder to the dead villagers.

"In return for building this home and caring for the mortals in my care, I will bring those who have died here today back to life and offer all of you a home in the one that is built for my mortals. I notice that this is an area that is vulnerable to attacks by creatures of different kinds." Sesshomaru waited for the old man to think over his request. A moment later, he questioned him. "You're sure you have no intention of bringing harm to the women?" Sesshomaru growled at him then. "I have told you I have no interest in them, besides I am sure some of them are married to men who have died?" The elder nodded at his question, but before he could answer a woman stepped forward from the group. "You are truly able to bring my husband back?" she questioned softly? Sesshomaru gave her a nod. "Then I will agree to these terms as long as you bring my husband back." With that the rest of the women of the village stepped forward and agreed to the terms.

Sesshomaru nodded and drew Tenseiga before he turned and approached the fallen of the village. Narrowing his eyes, Sesshomaru focused on the minions of the netherworld crawling over the fallen humans. There would be no going back on this, but he would do this for Takara. He could feel the pulse of energy as he swiped Tenseiga at the creatures and killing them. He waited for a moment before he heard their heartbeats and they began to stir. He heard the women gasp as they ran past him to their men who were astounded to be alive.

It was nearly noon when the people of the village approached him. "We cannot thank you enough for this miracle you have given us." One of the women said. The village elder stepped forward. You have kept your end of the deal, demon. Now we shall keep ours. Give us a day and we shall be ready to leave." Sesshomaru nodded and headed to the edge of the village to wait for them. In one day his plans would be put into motion.

The following day, the people had packed their belongings and prepared to follow him to their new home. By that time, Jaken and Ah-Un had caught up with him were also waiting for his departure as well. Giving the humans time to bid farewell to their home, Sesshomaru set off at a slow pace that they matched. He could hear the villagers speaking with Jaken asking questions about him and the mortals that were in his care that they would be caring for. They asked all the questions they could about his adventures as well as his personality. They were a curious group but the more they learned about him they more at ease they seemed to be with their arrangement.

It took several days of traveling to reach their destination, but once there, the humans settled in for a night before they began the preparations for the homes they would be building. Sesshomaru stayed in the area to guard the women of his investment while he sent Jaken to the villages at the base of the mountains with the young men to buy the materials they would need. It was a good thing he hadn't left them alone as one of the local wolf packs made their way close to the camp, but before they could attack, all Sesshomaru had to do was ensure his presence was known and the vermin went running away with their tails between their legs.

With the entire village working together on the building of the houses, what would have taken months to build went up in only one. The building of the smaller homes took even less time than the main house for Takara and Rin should the little girl decide to come with him. He didn't doubt that she would, but that was why he had left her in the village, to decide if she wanted to stay with him or with humans.

The last item that needed to be built was the wall to protect the homes from the creatures that roamed the forests. He could not be there at all times after all. It took them a while to get the structure in the condition that they wanted it but once they got the wall started, the rest seemed to follow smoothly. The few days following were spent purchasing needed items for the homes. The women seemed to be happy to go out and purchase the items that the main house needed as well as the things their own homes needed. Perhaps he was spoiling them with the money he gave them to buy what they needed, but it wasn't as if he had any true reason to spend his wealth for any other reason. After several hundred years, it had amassed to the point where this amount he had spent in the past few months hadn't even made a dent in his total wealth.

He would give these humans no reason to betray his trust.

Sesshomaru was pleased with the size of the main house as well as its set up, the women had done well in their choices and the villagers were pleased with what they had acquired as well. During the construction of the house the older men and women of the village had taken the time to preserve foods for the winter to come. The food was plenty now all that remained would be for the humans to gather wood to last through the cold of the winter. Come spring, these humans would be back to their farming ways and working to build their trades. From now on they were his property to be used for his benefit.

The far side of the house held the rooms that Jaken, possibly Rin, and Takara would stay in while he stayed on the opposite side to keep himself away from temptation. It occurred to him then that he had no idea how to court a human. As far as demons went it was enticing a female into mating by any means necessary. Often many males used wealth (he had that), power (he certainly had that), or sex… The last one seemed to be a must for females human and demon alike, but as far as that option went, it seemed that human females preferred to wait until they were bonded to their males.

Sesshomaru sat in his room rubbing his right temple. Human females were too difficult. It was a wonder why their males were so eager to keep them away from demons. One would think that they would be grateful for the relief. This was quite a task. Even with his former human lover, Sesshomaru had never had a reason to court her. He had grown with her and stole her away, but after the consequences of those actions, he would not be repeating that method again, even now the pain still remained.

"My Lord?" It was one of the humans, an older woman bringing him some sake. He found it slightly amusing that they still wouldn't send any of their younger women to serve him, not that it mattered to him. He had told the fools that he had no use for their women. This woman seemed more at ease around him than most of the others. Her hands didn't shake when she poured the sake and handed it to him, nor did she flinch at the contact of their hands. "If I may, Lord Sesshomaru, what is it that troubles you?" the woman asked. Sesshomaru hadn't bothered to remember her name, but he pondered if he should answer her while he sipped his alcohol.

He finished his first cup and spoke as she poured the second. "A female." That was all he said before the woman gave him a slight smile. "Are female demons as difficult as us human females?" she asked as he took a sip. "The female I speak of is human, and no. Female demons are much easier to deal with." It was then the woman had a hint of concern creeping into her eyes. "If I may be so bold, My Lord, is it one of the women here?" Now he understood. She thought he wanted one of their women and he gave no answer. He simply held out his cup to be filled again. He wasn't expecting what she had to say next.

"There are many who are grateful to you, Lord Sesshomaru. If one of our women could be of use to you, you only need to let me know and I shall bring on of the unmarried ones to you." Sesshomaru looked at her then and raised a brow. The woman was offering up the village's girls to him. Perhaps he had miscalculated the depths of gratitude for some of them. "I shall keep that in mind, but no. The woman I speak of is not here." He paused as he drank from his cup. "However, you should know that as a demon, I could easily harm one of your women."

The eagerness with which the woman agreed was a bit odd Sesshomaru thought before she spoke again. He thought she may have been up to something in order to make it obvious to the other humans that he was indeed after their women despite how tired he was becoming from telling them that he didn't want them, but the only other person around was the girl who was sitting outside of the screen door. She made no sound, but Sesshomaru could hear her heartbeat and each breath she took. "I take it then, My Lord that you have had experience with human women?" Sesshomaru again didn't answer but instead he asked a question. "Why has that girl been outside this door the entire time?"

The woman looked surprised that he could tell that, but she answered him. "She is one of the willing ones should you want a woman." The door then slid open and the girl entered closed the screen door and fell into her lowest bow. Sesshomaru hadn't expected that answer, but he made no move to acknowledge the girl as he drank his sake. It had been a long time since he had touched a human woman other than the few moments he had stolen with Takara several months ago. While the girl before him was fairly attractive for a human, she was not as appealing to him as Takara. Nothing about her stirred him in anyway, but he could have a use for her.

"She is untouched, Lord Sesshomaru, if that is your concern." The woman urged him. It didn't matter to him if she had given herself to a male before or not. He had no intention of bedding her, but she would be useful for refreshing his memory of human women… reluctantly on his part. He set his resolve before he called the girl over while her older companion made no move to leave. His guess was that she wanted to reassure the girl and keep her calm he didn't care either way. He needed only a few moments to ensure he had not forgotten what he had learned so long ago.

The girl sat to his right, almost touching his knee where he sat. Her pulse was hammering in her nervousness. "Do I need to disrobe, My Lord?" she asked and her voice shook a little. "No" Sesshomaru answered her as he moved aside one of the folds of her yukata aside to bare her thighs. He could see a flush spreading down her face to her chest as he forced her thighs apart as she sat on her knees. Sesshomaru didn't scent fear on her so he thought that she trembled from her nerves. Neither of the women spoke as he reached between the girls thighs, but the girl did gasp as his hand touched her sex. It took him a moment to remember how human women liked to be touched, but once he felt the girl's sex growing wet he knew he was heading in the right direction. A moment later he located bundle of nerves between her legs and a small whimper came from the girl's throat. He caught a rhythm that she seemed to enjoy and her hips began to thrust in time with his hand. He then adjusted his hand and slid two fingers inside her while his thumb continued to tease her little pearl of flesh. At first she gasped because of his invasion and he was assured then that she hadn't been touched due to how tight she was, but once he pressed against the spot where his thumb was rubbing on the outside, her walls fluttered and she clenched his fingers. She cried out when she climaxed and continued to grind herself against his hand as her climax washed over her but once her trembling womb stilled, Sesshomaru removed his hand, now drenched with the girl's release. "That is all" he told her and the girl nodded quickly before she stood on shaky legs and left the room. It seemed that he hadn't lost his touch.


	12. Author's Note

To all my wonderful readers!

As some of you may have noticed it had been a while since I had put an update on any of my stories. I just wanted to fill you in on a few things. First I would like to apologize for the delay in updates; work and school full time doesn't allow a lot of free time for writing. Secondly, if you hadn't noticed I have an abundance of ideas for different stories. I have given thought to putting out stories for a couple of different anime and other media, but seeing how much I love the characters of InuYasha I have decided to postpone that.

The next order of business I have in mind is yet another new story. A very good friend of mine has put in a request for a story centering around Inu no Taisho. While he is a minor character in the anime, he is her favorite. The question I have is: If I posted this story, would any of you be interested in reading it? Keep in mind that the current stories will still receive updates as well. Please give me your opinions as well as which story you would like to see an update for and we shall see where the road takes us!

As always XOXO

…:::~~*$hortey*~~:::…


	13. Home Away from Home

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 12 Home away from home**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

Life in the village really hadn't changed too much since she had left, most things remaining the same even though Takara had thought that a few of them would… at least she had hoped. However as she sat with Rin, catching up on the things that she had missed while she had been training, the single village men were bringing her presents again. Rin thought it was funny, but Takara wanted to kick every one of them in the shins until they got the picture. Even after three months, they couldn't take a hint. She didn't even bother to look at them when they placed their gifts near her, but still they continued to come; some even twice.

Her saving grace came from Rin's excited gasp and she knew then she was saved. Looking over her shoulder she could see Sesshomaru walking up the hill to where they were. She watched Rin stand and run up to him to hug his leg before he presented her with a thick looking winter kimono. Thanking him, Rin bowed down before she quickly ran to show Kaede what he had brought her. She laughed to herself as she stood _My turn!_ Then she also ran to him and straight into the mass of fluff at his shoulder. "Fluffy! It's been too long!" She almost laughed when Sesshomaru growled at her like he usually did when she greeted his fur instead of him, but she didn't instead she hugged his fur tighter. A moment later she pulled back, and looked up to him "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Hello Sesshomaru." He narrowed his eyes at her and all the while she could feel the men behind her glaring daggers at Sesshomaru.

Even as she cuddled his fur, Sesshomaru could sense the jealousy seeping off of the men whose attention Takara had quickly abandoned once he had approached. When he glanced up, about five human men were glancing angrily to each other and then to him, their eyes ending on Takara. It seemed that they didn't notice or care that Takara had blatantly been ignoring them and continued to fawn over her. If he was going to court her, he needed these males to also know that she was his and that they needed to give up their hopeless mission to win her affection. He would be the only male to do that.

Takara noticed Sesshomaru looking at the men behind her and sure enough when she released him to look over her shoulder the men were in fact giving Sesshomaru death glares. She thought about mouthing off to him so the villagers didn't suspect anything but before she could speak, The tall demon before her had wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her body flush against his. When she braced her hands on his chest to assure that she didn't press uncomfortably into his armor, she could feel the vibrations in his strong chest before the sound rumbled out as a long, deep, deadly sounding growl.

That did the trick.

It only took a few seconds for the men to scatter from their little group and make their way back down the hill and into the village.

Takara swallowed nervously before she looked back to Sesshomaru who was watching the men retreat into the village. Once he was satisfied that the men weren't coming back, he returned his attention to Takara. A scarlet flush was creeping into her cheeks and she couldn't seem to make it go away. "You do know that the entire village will know about this before nightfall right?" she asked, her body still held against his and her hands pressed against his chest. He didn't respond for a moment, but as usual, what he had to say threw her for a loop.

"I have heard that your living arrangements have been compromised. I am extending to you and Rin an invitation to stay with me for the winter." That took Takara a moment to wrap her head around. He had just asked her to live with him, even if it was for the winter. Even now she could feel the cold breeze of the autumn air brushing against her skin. Takara dropped her head back against his fur. "You need help with your conversation skills" she told him with a sigh. "Next time try something along the lines of "Takara I missed you too. Where have you been?", before throwing something like that out there."

"I knew where you were. That is why I did not ask." He told her simply.

"Can't you pretend to act surprised or like you were curious or concerned about my whereabouts?"

"Had I been concerned or curious I would have sought you out."

"Do you have an answer for everything?"

"Do you have a question for everything?"

"Argh!" Takara finally gave up pulling out of his embrace. "You are such a pain!"

"I do cause pain." Sesshomaru told her and Takara got the feeling that was a small attempt at humor on his part.

Throwing up her arms in defeat, Takara started to walk away only to be grabbed up again by Sesshomaru, her back now pressing into his chest. "I have been curious about your time away Takara. If you accept my invitation, you could tell me all that transpired during that time." He told her, his warm breath fanning her neck before a low growl rumbled deep in his chest.

"I don't think it would be very becoming of me to spend the winter in a strange demon's home." She teased as she leaned her head away from him, exposing her neck to him. He didn't miss her invitation and placed a sharp nip on her delicate flesh causing a tingling sensation to run down her spine. "If you would cooperate woman, by then end of winter you would be very well acquainted with me and I with you."

A flush crept onto her cheeks at his bold declaration and he looked over her shoulder at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you are positively prime evil?"

"Flattery is an effective way to gain my attention."

Takara hadn't exactly meant it as a compliment, but he took it as one so she let it go. Pulling away from him, her mind buzzing with questions as to what could and would happen between them if she chose to accept his invitation. "Give me tonight to think about it. I'll give you an answer in the morning." She told him before heading down into the village, bumping into InuYasha halfway.

"What was that all about?" the half demon asked with a smug look on his face. It seemed that he had come to investigate once the villagers had run into the village and had witnessed the entire scene. Takara shrugged with a grin on her face and headed into Kaede's hut where her belongings were still located, her decision already made. She was just going to let Sesshomaru wonder about it overnight.

Sesshomaru spoke to Rin a little later and though she was thrilled with his offer, she had declined. That had shocked him. He was more than certain that the little girl would agree to stay with him and that Takara would be the one he would have to convince, but now things had changed and he was uncertain if she would accept his invitation. Rin had chosen to decline to help Kaede with the girls that would be married off in the spring. She told him that she wanted to help her friends prepare for their new lives.

Now as he waited for morning to come, he wondered if Takara would truly decline his offer, making the effort he had expended with the humans building his home pointless. However, he would not waste this effort. If he needed to spend the winter convincing her to stay with him through spring and summer the following year he would do so. Regardless, Sesshomaru was determined to keep this woman with him.

The following morning when he entered the village, he couldn't find any trace of her. Thinking she had run from him stirred up a little pain deep within him, but he continued to search, not knowing that she watched him searching for her from a distance.

"Do you plan to accept his offer?" Sahloknir asked as he hovered behind the cover of a cloud. She felt him disconnect his mind from hers, making her lose sight of Sesshomaru, her vision not nearly as strong as the dragon's. "I want to, but I'm not sure." She told her friend. "While I was packing my things it just felt like accepting his invitation was forgetting my world, and I'm scarred to do that. I miss my family and I wonder if they worry about me, but at the same time I want to be with him. Who knows? He may grow tired of me in a little while and then where will I be? He is a demon after all."

Sahloknir thought on that for a moment. "You wonder if you can be happy with him?" Takara admitted that was a big part of her problem. Could she love him? "I have found that in my many years of meditation that love is not about finding the right person, so to speak, but it is more about loving the person you have found." He told her and Takara thought on that while he continued. "It seems to me that love is not entirely a feeling, but it is also a decision. You have to choose to be with him and to stay with him."

"I had no idea you were so wise." She joked with the dragon before asking him to land away from the village where he had picked her up earlier that morning. She thanked him for his time and he told her that all she needed to do was call him should she ever need him.

Takara made her way back to the outskirts of the forest surrounding the village and moved to where she was upwind of Sesshomaru and waited. She knew it wouldn't take long for him to catch her scent so she sat in the shade of the tree and waited.

It was only a few minutes before Kaos came trotting up to her, settling his upper body on her lap and lying down for her to pet him. She envied her dog. No matter where he was, he was happy as long as he was with her and she wished she could do that.

As she pet him though, the other dog that held her thoughts appeared before her looking a bit angry. "Where were you?" he calmly demanded eyeing the dog on her lap. "Thinking about your offer." She answered looking away from him and back to her oversized lapdog as she smoothed down his dark fur. Sesshomaru didn't say anything as he waited for her to speak. "Let's be clear on a few things before I make my decision." She finally told him and he nodded. "I want to be clear that I am free to come and go as I please?" she asked and he nodded. "If I want to visit Kagome and InuYasha I can?" again he nodded. "I guess there is only one other thing." She told him before leaning down to hug Kaos around his neck while glancing up to Sesshomaru with a sweet smile.

His eyes narrowed as he eyed Takara and then the dog before a low growl rumbled in his throat, but Takara never swayed. Either she got to bring Kaos or she stayed, it was that simple and she let him know that. Shock quickly passed through his eyes before they returned to their typical emotionless state. "Very well, you may bring him with you." He finally agreed and Takara stood. "Just let me grab my bag and say bye to everyone." With that she turned and walked into the village.

The goodbyes were short and sweet, Rin being the only one who was upset she was leaving, but at least there were no tears because she promised to visit every time Sesshomaru did. Well Rin was the only sad one but there were a few men who were angry she was leaving. However, Takara did notice the glare Sesshomaru sent their way and after they paled a bit, none of them felt the need to voice their disappointment. It wasn't much later that Takara was following Sesshomaru out of the village.

If someone had said a few months ago that she would be leaving with Sesshomaru she would have laughed in their faces, but now she was leaving with him despite her earlier thoughts. She had wanted to ask him why he wanted her to stay with him, but she was afraid of what his answer might have been. Somewhere deep down she was terrified that he was just using her to substitute for the woman he had lost, and she wondered if it was the other woman he saw when he looked at her or if he truly saw her, Takara. At some point in the near future she knew this was going to pop up between them, she just hoped she had the strength to deal with his answer, no matter what it was, when the time came.

They hadn't been walking long when they met Jaken along with the creature named Ah-Un waiting for them. It took a few minutes for Takara to get used to Ah-Un and a few more minutes to get her dog acquainted with the creature but once they were it was no problem getting Kaos onto the dragon like creature's back. The thing's back was broad enough for Kaos to lay down flat on his belly with his head resting between both of theirs with Takara sitting behind him, her legs on either side of his.

Once they were in the air, Kaos couldn't have been more relaxed if he was dead seeing how he fell asleep making Takara envy him yet again for being so carefree and being able to sleep. She had been up most of the night tossing and turning while she wondered if she should or shouldn't go with Sesshomaru.

The trip was a quiet one and thankfully only half a day's flight because by noon, Kaos had woken up and was anxious to get off the dragon and find a tree. While she had enjoyed the flight on the demon's back while watching the many different sights of the land below her pass by, she too was thankful when she finally got to get down and stretch her legs. No sooner had they set down did Kaos hop from the creatures back and immediately began to look for a place to relieve himself, lifting his leg after a moment or two on a nearby bush.

Off in the distance, Takara could see the roof of a few homes in between the breaks in the trees and after a quick stretch of her limbs, she jogged to close the distance between Sesshomaru and herself.

She didn't say anything as she walked beside him, but she was glad he had invited her to stay with him. As a slight breeze swept by them, Takara could feel the chill in the air and guessed that winter would come early this year. There would still be plenty of time before the first snows fell, but the cold was already beginning to tighten its grasp on the land.

The leaves on the trees still held their green colors, but a vast array of browns, yellows and reds were starting to invade the branches. The soft carpet of grass was beginning to disappear in the wake of the fallen leaves and branches to crunch beneath their feet.

"It seems very peaceful here." Takara took note of as she listened to the soft singing of birds and other forest creatures. Sesshomaru didn't say anything or even make a move to acknowledge that she had spoken, and Takara didn't bother to try and get him to. She knew that if she did the little imp creature would start yelling and she really wasn't in the mood to deal with him. She was tired and that made her a little cranky with the thought of dealing with the toad's irritating voice. Only moments later did they step out of the clearing of the trees to find a pleasant sight. Behind the high walls that stood before them was a quaint little human village nestled at the base of the mountain before them. It looked to be a newer set of structures, but the little homes sat safe and sound behind the high wall.

What probably surprised her more than the little village were the amount of humans bustling around it, all of them in good spirits working their trades and building a few different buildings here and there. Upon seeing them, a group of men called out to other villagers and began announcing Sesshomaru's return before everyone they passed and offered him a low bow before they continued their work.

Sesshomaru for the most part seemed to be oblivious to their attention.

Finally they reached the inner part of the village and the dividing wall between the large home there and the rest of the small town. It was probably the grandest home Takara had seen since arriving in this time and she couldn't help but to gape at its beauty. She could see the large waterfall behind the home from where it poured out of the mountain and flowed to several different streams throughout the town and the home itself.

"Jaken" Sesshomaru finally spoke "Take Ah-Un" Nothing more was said, so Takara took it upon herself to follow her demon host into his home.

Following suit, Takara removed her shoes at the entry and followed Sesshomaru into the home. He showed her only to what he told her would be her rooms before he instructed a servant to show her about the home after she had rested. He left her with the instructions to rest, and should she need anything to speak with the servants or to find him on the other side of the mansion.

While she was curious as to the layout of the home, Takara was ready for a nap. She only took a brief look around her rooms and found them very lavish. There were several different large rooms that were connected to her own, the main room with a low table and pillows surrounding it and various tables and pots neatly arranged along the walls, a room for her to sleep in with a very large and soft looking futon built into a raised portion of the floor. This room also contained storage space for her weapons as well as a separate space for her clothes in which many new and beautiful kimonos filled. She didn't even want to think about how expensive they must have been. In this area there were also a wide selection of combs, hair pins, sandals and anything else she could have wanted.

Finally she opened the door on the far side of this room and followed the small path that lead to another, but separate little building. She was going to jump Sesshomaru the next time she saw him. This building housed a large natural hot spring and she couldn't wait to bathe in it after she took her nap.

She entered the bedroom again, stripping out of her clothes and pulled on a light sleeping yukata before adding a few logs to the small fire burning at the center of the room. With that she climbed onto her large and soft bed and watched Kaos for a few moments as he continued to sniff and inspect their new quarters before her eyelids became too heavy for her and she drifted off to sleep.


	14. Plans

**Lessons Learned**

**Chapter 13**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

Takara wasn't sure which woke her up, the sliding of the screen door or the heavy weight that covered her legs, but either way her nap was over. "Excuse me, my lady" came a female voice from the other side of the door. "I have brought your evening meal." Takara's stomach growled in response as she climbed off of her bed and headed into the main room.

The woman was young, perhaps only a few years older than herself dressed in a plain kimono. She was pretty with a round face and soft brown eyes. "Hello, my lady. I apologize for waking you but I thought you might be hungry." She greeted Takara with a smile.

"Hello and thank you for this. May I ask your name?" Takara asked as she knelt down to the table ensuring her yukata wouldn't fall open as she sat.

The girl nodded and poured her a cup of tea. "My name is Ai and Lord Sesshomaru has instructed me to look after you during your stay. How was your trip?" Takara eyed the girl as she sipped her tea, a slightly uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. Trying to dismiss it, she told the girl of her flight over and asked her about the place.

It seemed that Sesshomaru had this entire place built during her stay with Yolheimin. The fact that he had it done within about four months wasn't nearly as impressive to her as the fact that he had built it specifically for Rin and herself to stay in during the winter months. It really put things into perspective about just how serious he was or seemed to be and that worried her.

While it was true that she felt things for Sesshomaru without a doubt, Takara worried about what exactly he wanted from her. She was in a completely different time and things worked much differently. She was pretty sure that the building of an entire village for another person to whom some attraction had been shown would most definitely fall in the "courting" gifts category not like a bunch of flowers or such that fell into the "interested" gifts category. She was used to the interested gifts from the men in the village, but what Sesshomaru had done for her was on a new level. To be honest, it made her feel a little guilty.

If he had asked her to marry him tonight, Takara felt that she would have to say "yes" simply out of obligation for such an outrageous gift.

_Marriage…_ She thought. What if marriage was truly his ultimate goal? _He doesn't want to marry you"_ she told herself _Stop worrying over nothing. _Her thoughts weren't exactly reassuring her since she hadn't managed to convince herself. _What if he doesn't even mean this as a gift? He did build it for Rin too after all. Who knows? Maybe he got tired of traveling in the snow and decided to kill two birds with one stone?_

"My Lady?" the girl questioned while holding the tea pot, snapping Takara out of her thoughts. Ai refilled her cup and got up and moved to the screen door as the soft pad of feet approached. "She isn't appropriate, My Lord." Ai told who Takara guessed to be Sesshomaru. "It's fine, Ai. I'm not putting on a kimono just to take it off when he leaves." She told the servant woman who reluctantly nodded and moved so that Sesshomaru could enter before she exited the room for them to speak.

Takara didn't speak at first. She was wondering how she would ask him about building an entire village for Rin and herself, but in all honesty, she wanted him to tell her what he expected in return. She sipped her tea and did her best to avoid his gaze as he watched her.

"What troubles you?" he finally asked as she poured him a cup of sake. She glanced at him briefly as their hands touched while passing him his drink, but she remained silent for a moment. Not surprisingly Sesshomaru didn't press the issue. He simply continued to watch her.

"I understand you have had this place built recently?" she finally spoke.

She had no idea why she expected him to beat around the bush on this subject. After all, he never did.

"I had it built when I learned that you could no longer stay with the priestess."

All formal manners aside, Takara sighed, folded her arms on the table and dropped her head onto them. _This can't be happening…_ she told herself. "You seem upset?" he spoke, sounding perplexed.

Takara looked up at him and fought the urge to smile. He looked adorable when he was confused. "Alright, Sesshomaru." She finally spoke "It seems the two of us are having some communication issues. I need you to tell me if you built this place specifically for me and why. I want to ensure we are on the same page because my head is spinning right now."

He cocked his head to the side and observed her for a few moments, still seeming a bit confused as he watched her. "I am a demon, so I do not fully understand the ways of humans, but is this not the proper way to court you?" Takara could only gape at him. Did he not realize what he was saying? He was casually telling her that he intended to marry her just like he was telling her it would rain tomorrow and there was no difference between the two. He continued to sip his sake while she sat in silence but as he finished his drink and she still hadn't spoke, he finally did.

"Are you displeased with the thought of marriage to me?" he sounded a bit angry, and an angry Sesshomaru was not something she wanted to deal with, just the thought of him pissed made her shiver.

She took a deep breath and thought how best to explain the situation to him and decided to be as blunt as he was. "Displeased isn't the word I would use," she began. "Shocked is more appropriate." He seemed to calm at her words and nodded for her to continue. "As you know, I'm not from this world. Things like this work much differently so forgive me if I've offended you in some way."

"How are things different?" he asked as she poured him another cup of sake.

Takara shrugged "Well for one, I'm seventeen." Perhaps she should have paid more attention in history class.

"I thought it odd that you had not yet married." Sesshomaru told her as he leaned back into the wall, his golden eyes fixed on her. "Women are typically married when they are a few years younger." This was becoming an odd conversation. "Well where I come from I still have quite a few years ahead of me before I even consider marriage." The way he cocked a brow, she could tell he found that strange but he didn't speak so she continued. "Another thing, in my time, people typically get to know one another, before the whole marriage ordeal even pops up in conversation."

"You are the one who asked me to voice my intentions." He pointed out with a smirk. "I'm an idiot, thank you for the reminder" she answered him and continued. "Not to mention all this…" she motioned to the house around her. "Where I come from people don't build entire villages just to court a girl. Don't you think that all this might be a little too much?" The way he continued to stare at her with those molten honey eyes made heat begin to creep into her cheeks. "There is no such thing as too much when it comes to something I want."

Finally she had to submit her gaze to his as her flush covered her entire face. "As far as "getting to know one another", that is why I invited you to stay with me. Perhaps by spring I can have you convinced." Takara nearly choked on her tea.

"Spring?! You're being a little ambitious aren't you?" Her heart couldn't take much more of this surprise. "The sooner you are mine, the sooner I may take you to my bed." Her scarlet flush spread down her neck at that little comment, but at the same time left her a little confused. "There is another difference. Where I come from, men are typically spend their entire relationship trying to get in their woman's pants." At his confused look Takara added "Trying to get them into bed. Making sure that sex is good between them first."

"That does not concern me. I will be able to please you." He sounded very sure of himself and continued "I will wait until you agree before I bed you." Takara was still avoiding his gaze "You seem to believe it's just a matter of time before I agree. Are you so certain that I will or that you really do want me?"

He was silent for a moment before he spoke and instructed her to come closer to him. Not too sure about what he was up to, Takara slowly moved to kneel beside him. Faster than she could see him move, he had pulled her onto his lap, her thighs on either side of his waist, his hands gripping her waist. His grip on her hips tightened slightly before he pulled her harder into him and she could feel something hot and hard pressing against her sacred area. She gasped as he ground his hips to hers a few times, "Can you feel how badly I want you?" he growled lowly to her before he pressed his confined length against her core again before he leaned forward to attack the flushed and exposed skin of her neck.

A soft moan escaped her lips as he continued to torment her throat and chin before moving to her mouth. She felt the fabric of her yukata slide down slightly just before Sesshomaru's assault on the hollow of her collar bone began, and yet he never made a move to open her yukata or progress any further.

Takara was panting hard by the time he finally pulled away and a dull ache pulsed between her thighs. She gasped as he suddenly stood, setting her on her feet on unsteady legs, ensuring her softer body pressed tightly against his solid, muscled frame. He reached up to bury his claws in her hair, sliding his fingers through the dark strands, before he leaned down to press a final kiss on her lips. "I shall see you tomorrow and we shall spend the day however you wish." With that he left her standing in the middle of the room, clutching the front of her yukata and panting in the wake of his attention.

As she walked into her room, she found her dog right where she had left him, lying belly up across the bed, oblivious to what had just occurred. "Some friend you are," she told him as she climbed into the bed. "You didn't even bother to rescue me from that wicked demon." She laughed as his tail wagged back and forth between his hind legs and she drummed on his big barrel chest. "You just knew I secretly didn't want to be rescued."

Anyone who would've said that Sesshomaru did anything half-assed would have been a liar. True he wasn't sentimental by any means, but his tenacity more than made up for that flaw. She wanted to explore the village, he took her- She wanted something, he bought it for her – She wanted to brush his mane of silky hair, he let her; more importantly though, when she wanted to be alone for a while, he left her alone until she sought him out.

However, Takara was determined to push him to his limits. After being at his mansion a few weeks, the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was cold and rainy so Takara had been forced to stay inside. For someone who loved to be outside, this wasn't a good thing. She was going stir crazy and needed entertainment.

Unfortunately for Sesshomaru, the entertainment was going to be at his expense.

She found him in his room cleaning his swords, and in Takara's eyes looking incredibly handsome without his armor on, his fur lying behind him, and his haori on loosely. He raised a brow at her entry but said nothing as she entered and closed the door behind her. "It's raining still…" she told him as she sighed, making her boredom evident. Sesshomaru still said nothing as he continued to tend to his weapons. He remained silent as she walked behind him and gathered his fur in her arms before she sat down and leaned against his back.

She saw him turn his head to look over his shoulder out of the corner of her eye before he returned to what he had been doing. Takara also continued to do what she was doing.

Within a matter of minutes, she had managed to completely tangle herself in his fur.

"What do you think you're doing?" he finally asked as he turned a bit more to see just how tangled she was.

"It's so fluffy!" she exclaimed before cuddling her face into it again. "So, so fluffy!" She gave him a wide smile as she fell over on her side and he simply raised a brow. "Can't I just marry the fluffy?" she asked rubbing her cheek on it.

"No" he answered, his voice irritated as he once again returned to cleaning his sword, sheathing it before moving on to the other.

Takara sighed in disappointment. "Can I at least take it back to my rooms? I want to cuddle with it some more."

"Then you may continue to do so here."

"Naked?"

That got his attention as he whipped his head around to her, his eyes beginning to glow with a hint of lust. "Don't tempt me." He warned her with a growl in his voice and Takara shivered at the sound. "Please don't threaten me" she said as she smiled sweetly at him. "I hear your… Sword… is very powerful."

His growls thundered even louder in his chest as smoldering lust filled his amber eyes, the whites beginning to glow red around the brim. Takara saw his muscles tighten and felt that he was about to pounce her but before he could sheath the sword he had been cleaning, she shouted.

"TIID KLO UL!"

What should have escaped her was how quick he turned to face her, but instead he seemed to move at normal speed thanks to her Shout. It gave her time to jump up while he was confused, untangle herself from his fur and gather it up in her arms before she bolted out of his room laughing as he moved to chase her. It was like everyone they passed was moving in slow motion.

The Shout she had used was one to slow time, and while the rest of the world moved at a snail's pace, Sesshomaru's natural speed seemed to allow him to keep up with her. She weaved in and out of rooms and changed direction every chance she got finally causing him to slide past her as she suddenly turned and ran the way they had just come from and into her room slamming the door behind her. She winced when she heard a crash and quickly moved to the outside of the mansion, running along the outer porch laughing as she heard Sesshomaru's irritated growl. She didn't see him so she dropped his fur and ran back into the house, away from his growls.

She could hear him run the direction opposite that she had went and crept out of her hiding spot and ran yet another direction. She kept as quite as she could and listened as he backtracked his position. This time she made her way back to her rooms once more and collapsed on her futon panting from her run as time resumed its normal pace.

"I never realized just how fast you were." She panted as he stalked into her room, his fur in its normal place at his shoulder. "I give up…"

His growl echoed in her room as his red tinted gaze fixed on her. He took several deep breaths and she guessed it wasn't because he was out of breath. "It is not wise to surrender to me after a chase while flat on you back." He finally managed to ground out through clenched teeth, his voice echoing with his growls.

She smiled and gave him a nod and he turned to exit her rooms. "So since you're a dog demon, after a chase I should surrender on all fours?" She asked as she turned to lay with her head at the end of the bed on her stomach, and he froze mid stride.

Again he took several deep breaths before he glanced at her again. "When I finally get you into my bed, you will regret acting so promiscuous." With that he quickly exited her chambers and Takara breathed a sigh of relief. _Sesshomaru must have some serious self-control…_ she thought _or does he?_

Sesshomaru had to force himself to return to his rooms, and it wasn't easy to do when all he could think about was returning to Takara's room, ripping her kimono off and showing her what teasing a demon male would result in. He wanted her badly. The fact that his cock was so hard, it made even the slight brush of his hakama torture as he stalked back to his rooms and he wanted to turn around so badly. It had only been last night since he pleasured himself last, but now he needed to do so again.

The following day the weather had cleared and while it was still cold outside, at least the sun shone brightly and Takara had to get out of the house. She dressed in a plain kimono and hurried to Sesshomaru's chambers. He was sitting on the porch outside of his room while the screen remained open simply starring out at the large waterfall behind the mansion and didn't even turn to acknowledge her. "It stopped raining" she announced as she sat down beside him. He gave her only the slightest nod and that was all. She hoped he wasn't mad about yesterday and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I'm still bored" she told him

"You still may not have my fur"

"Stingy demon"

"Provocative woman"

Takara laughed and stood going to fetch a comb to drag through his silky hair. He made no moved as she settled in behind him and slowly pulled the comb through his silver tresses despite it being free of even the slightest tangle. She just loved to touch his hair, hell she loved to touch him and despite her best efforts not to fall for the haughty dog demon before her, she was. The last few nights she had laid awake in bed, imagining what would happen if he suddenly came to her bed, or if she had gone to his. She had considered the latter last night after their chase, but chickened out- too fearful of being rejected.

As the spun silk of his hair glided over the comb and fell on her hand she decided that the comb was no longer needed. She moved to kneel behind him before gathering up his hair and pulling them down his back. As her blunt nails scrapped against his scalp, she heard the slightest rumble deep in his chest and moved to rake her nails across it again. This time he leaned his head back into her touch as his rumbling growl continued, almost like a purr.

Moving just a bit closer, her soft chest finally pressed against his back and she could feel the vibrations against her breasts and gasped slightly at the sensation it caused. In the next instant she was in his lap, her back to his chest. He didn't speak but his growls softened as his clawed hands came up to encase each of her breasts, kneading them softly. Takara felt him lean down, his hot breath fanning her neck as his growls quieted even more.

"Don't" she managed to get out and Sesshomaru stilled before he slowly released her breasts. Quickly she grabbed his much larger hands and replaced them where they had been on her chest and clarified. "I meant "Don't stop growling"" she explained as he began to massage the soft mounds of her flesh. "I really, really like it when you growl at me." Her response was a vicious growl that made her shiver in his arms; his sharp fangs teasing the bare flesh of her throat.

However, as soon as he had started, Sesshomaru stopped. His hands moved down to her waist and pulled her back until she was sitting flat against his hard body and she sighed again. Part of her was relieved that he had stopped, but a larger part of her regretted that he had.

"Believe it or not" she began as she leaned into the fur of his shoulder "I actually came here to see if you would do me a favor."

"I believe you. I was the one who acted irrationally."

Takara smiled at his response. He was always so proper. "I was just wondering if you could teach me to use a sword a little bit better." He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "I will, if only to keep you from causing me so much frustration."


	15. Clearing Up a Few Things

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 14**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

It had become their daily ritual. Each morning, Sesshomaru would take Takara up the mountain away from the house and train her how to "properly wield" a sword. Although what Sahloknir and Yolheimin must have been at least half way decent seeing as she was able to get a good swipe at his arm, which of course didn't break skin since he wasn't trying to do her harm. However, her skills were definitely improving.

It was also a way for them to interact without causing so much sexual tension, at least on her part. Takara wasn't too sure about how Sesshomaru was taking the training. True he no longer would snatch her into his lap to fondle her or even promise her dirty things, but that seemed a little odd to her. Either way, Takara decided to avoid the subject.

It wasn't too long after the first snow fall that Sesshomaru decided to go and visit Rin. And after a half day journey, in the cold Takara decided that she was no fan of flying in the snow. True the landscape was beautiful, what she could see of it, but her eyes were beginning to hurt, not only from the cold air but from the bright reflections the snow bounced back from the ground. For the most part of the trip, Takara remained huddled up to one of Ah-Un's heads and thought about how she was going to break the news to Kagome.

Once they landed in the village and greeted everyone, Takara decided to pull Kagome aside, the two of them walking far out of ear shot to the very edge of the forest. "So how have things been with Sesshomaru?" Kagome finally asked "I see that the two of you haven't killed one another yet."

Takara nodded and gave her a half hearted smile as she sat down on a fallen tree trunk after clearing away the little bit of snow that had landed on it. "To be honest, I am so confused." Kagome also cleared a spot on the tree and nodded for her to continue. "Everyone knows about how much Sesshomaru seemed to hate me when we met."

"But not everyone knows about how you and Sesshomaru were getting cozy up on the hill right before you left with him" Kagome added with a smirk "Don't worry, I was the only one InuYasha said anything to."

With a sigh, and throwing caution to the wind, Takara blurted out her problems. "He asked me to marry him, Kagome, and I don't know what to do. I've seen sides of him that I'm pretty sure not many other people have seen; he takes care of me, indulges me, and gives me my space when I need it." She paused while Kagome gaped at her and then she continued. "Perhaps what he is doing for _this_ time is normal, but I'm from an entirely different world and things aren't quite so.. so…" A loss for words caused her to stop.

"Things aren't so simple?" Kagome asked. Takara thought about it and finally nodded.

"I remember how things were on the other side of the well Takara" The girl placed her hand on top of her own and continued. "There is always something going on there. There is so much he said, she said; so many lies and so much cheating. There are so many people trying to figure out what is going on in other people's lives they lose sight of their own. I may not be as familiar with Sesshomaru as you are, but I am a bit more knowledgeable about how this world works. It isn't perfect by any means, but it isn't as broken as our own world either. Respect, honor, and dignity still mean something to nearly every person here."

Kagome paused again. "I can't believe that Sesshomaru would ask something like that of you lightly. Let's face it, he finds himself to be very important so why would he go through all of this trouble and waste all of this time and effort if he didn't desire to keep you? It may be only my opinion, but I don't think that his views on humans have changed, but he certainly seems willing to make an exception for you, and coming from someone who he's tried to kill, I would definitely be glad he wanted to marry me instead of the alternative if I had to choose."

There was no denying that. Sesshomaru had scarred the hell out of her a few times when they were just sparring. She couldn't imagine a Sesshomaru that was intent on killing her. "Look at it this way, Takara. People of this time don't just ask someone to marry them without intentions of following through. When they ask for marriage, they mean it. I'm not telling you to marry him, it's up to you of course, but don't let future doubts get in the way of feudal intentions." Her friend paused and smiled "Besides, if you do decide to marry him, I want to see if any children you may have, end up with ears like InuYasha." That made Takara freeze on the spot.

She hadn't thrown children into her calculation, and shivered.

"What's wrong, Takara?" Kagome asked at her reaction.

"I can't have children."

"Meaning you're not able to or…"

"Or. My family is… cursed!" Takara exclaimed before she stood up to begin pacing.

"Cursed how?"

"Cursed as in the youngest child is always a girl and has one more child than her mother."

Kagome smiled "That's not too bad. Are you the youngest?"

"Yep"

"Well how many children did your mom have?"

Takara paused, feeling the blood drain from her face at the thought of it. "Only nine!"

Kagome's eyes bulged to the point Takara was sure they were going to pop out of her head. "You're kidding me."

"I wish I was" Takara trembled at the thought of having to give birth naturally ten times and felt her legs wobble and she had to take her seat again.

Kagome was silent before she spoke again. "Well look at it this way. Sahloknir told you that you had fifty years until you start again, so that gives you about seventy years to have them all."

Takara glared at her "I ought to punch you right between the eyes." Kagome only laughed in response.

"Has he said anything about children?" she finally asked and Takara shook her head. "Well then I would definitely ask him before you agreed. Keep in mind, he has a sharp nose and knows when you can get pregnant and when you can't."

Takara let out a shaky breath and nodded, worried about how she was going to ask him. If he gave her the answer that he wanted she decided that she would marry him, but if he didn't she didn't know what she was going to do.

Sesshomaru watched Takara as she returned to the village with Kagome. While InuYasha's woman seemed to be in good spirits, Takara's face had become pale and appeared rather jumpy. He couldn't have fathomed what had gone on between the two of them to make Takara appear so… worried. He watched as she intentionally avoided eye contact with him, she sat where she didn't have to look directly at him and…fidgeted. A low growl escaped Sesshomaru.

If InuYasha's wench had said something to dissuade Takara from marriage, he would eliminate the entire village in retribution…except for Rin.

Even as they landed back at the mansion, she quickly hurried off to her rooms, and despite the urge to follow her and find out what had spooked her, Sesshomaru made his way to his rooms.

Sitting in the quiet of his rooms, he listened as the human servants finished their tasks for the evening before leaving to their own homes and on the far side of the mansion he could her footsteps… Takara's. He could hear her pacing in her rooms and she continued to do so.

Sesshomaru had had enough. She was going to tell him what had upset her.

Takara's mind was running a million different ways she could approach this with Sesshomaru but as of yet she hadn't decided on an effective method. She thought about sneaking out to ask Sahloknir for his advice, but as soon as she slid open the screen door, she came face to fluff with Sesshomaru. She looked up met his eyes (which communicated to her that he was irritated), and attempted to shut the screen door on him, not that would have stopped him, but it was worth a try. Moving fast, his arm shot up and grabbed the edge of the door and he forced himself into her room.

She backed away from him into the room until her back hit the wall and he didn't stop advancing on her until she lifted a hand and placed it on his chest, the smooth silk of his kimono the only barrier between her skin and his. Takara could feel iron hard muscle under the fabric and shivered as he pressed a bit closer, giving her nowhere to run.

"Can I help you?" she asked him nervously, licking her lips which had dried considerably in the last few seconds.

She watched his eyes follow her tongue's movement before those golden orbs began to bore into her sapphire ones yet again.

"What has upset you?"

"I'm not upset"

He raised a brow "You are"

"No I'm not"

"Then why do your palms sweat? Why does your heart beat faster and why won't you hold still?" he asked as she went to move away from him.

"What are you, a human lie detector?"

"You know I am a demon so why do you ask?"

Takara sighed, forgetting her modern sarcasm didn't have the same effect in this time. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, taking a few calming breaths. Sesshomaru was right, she was upset and despite how much she wanted to avoid the subject she really needed to put it out there.

"I can't do it" Well that was one way to start, unfortunately she couldn't stop either as she started to ramble. "That's not to say I don't want to. That would be a lie because I really do, but today something was brought up and I realized then that I couldn't or maybe that I shouldn't but either way…" She was abruptly cut off when his mouth descended over her own. As she gasped in surprise, Sesshomaru took the opportunity to claim her mouth, caressing her tongue with his own as she leaned in closer to him, both hands resting on his strong chest.

As suddenly as he had started, he stopped making Takara whimper in disappointment.

"Would you speak plainly, woman." He growled lowly "What can't you do?"

"Marry you."

She clearly saw his jaw tighten and his eyes narrow.

"Like I said, it's not that I don't want to, but…"

He growled. A sign that she should continue.

"You see, there is one thing I didn't think of when you asked me, and it's kind of important." She paused and he continued to glare at her. With a sigh she spoke "Sesshomaru we never discussed the possibility of children."

With that last word, his growling ceased and the anger left his eyes as he regarded her curiously. She could feel the blush spreading over her cheeks and looked away from him.

"I fail to see the problem… Unless you do not wish to have my child." That thought must have upset him because he had begun to growl yet again.

"That's the thing. You say "child" and I say "Children"." She looked back and again he looked confused.

"I will give you more than one if you wish." He spoke after he thought a moment and all Takara could do was rest her forehead on his strong chest and shake her head.

"Alright, let me put it this way. If you were to look at my mother's side of the family and trace back a few generations, you would find that the youngest child in our family is always a girl and she always has one more child than her mother. I say it's a curse." He still starred at her and she sighed. "Let me put it this way, my great grandmother was the youngest of six children, and she had seven of which the youngest was my grandmother who had eight, of which my mother was the youngest who then had nine, of which **I** am the youngest." She paused and let that sink in for a moment.

"Is that all that had you upset? I have no qualms about a large number of pups, for I think I would enjoy the sight of you swollen with them."

Takara snapped her head up to look at him, her eyes wide is disbelief. "'A large number'?" she asked "Sesshomaru that's a… a…"

"A litter?" he finished for her and she blushed.

"Do you have any idea how my body could end up after that many children? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be that attractive." She tried to dissuade him.

"How so?"

"Extra weight, stretch marks, and I don't want to even think about how things would turn out down there." She could feel that her flush had spread to the tops of her breasts at the thought.

"I would like to see you a bit sturdier and proof that you have carried my offspring." He moved his head down to lick the tender flesh of her neck and she leaned away, "Besides that, a demon male will tend his mate after she has birthed young. You shall heal fine."

Takara shivered from both his words and his rough tongue sliding over her skin. She could only moan as his wicked mouth moved from her neck, up to her jawline and finally back to her mouth again leaving her breathless in the wake of his kiss.

When she finally pulled back, she starred deep into his eyes, only a few hints of emotion dancing in them, lust, desire, and a hint of something she couldn't quite place. Over the past few months she had thought he was insane for putting up with her antics, but perhaps there was certainly something more to him than that. She wondered if it had something to do with the other woman and thought that now was the time to ask, while they were clearing things up and before either side got hurt.

"I just need to know one me thing" she spoke softly "Who is it you see when you look at me? Is it me or… her?" She hadn't wanted to ask because she was so afraid of his answer; another sign that she had fallen for this demon- cold and stoic to others but not to her.

"You appear identical to her." He began and she thought her heart was about to break. "But I know you are not her. As similar as the two of you may appear, you are nothing like her. You are far too defiant to be her," he leaned down close to her ear and pulled her lower half closer to him and she could feel the hard length of his cock against her belly. "I greatly appreciate that difference."

Takara could live with that answer, she would have to because she had just made up her mind.

"Alright" she finally calmed.

"Have you any more doubts?"

She couldn't look away from those entrancing eyes. "As long as you promise to be patient with me, and don't mind having a litter of half-demons in your home, I'll marry you."

"You may hold me to that." Sesshomaru told her, leaning down to kiss his soon-to-be bride.


	16. Wedding Day

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 15**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

Takara knew Sesshomaru felt out of place. As the day of their wedding approached and more decisions needed to be made as far as preparations went, Takara noticed that he was simply going through the motions and with a large number of people she didn't know surrounding her she decided to give him a break.

Lately one of the older servants, Ayako, was put "in charge" of overseeing her activities. In other words, the woman was simply around to make sure Takara wasn't doing lewd things with Sesshomaru before they were "properly married".

The woman was a pain in the ass.

"I think I might kill her" Takara told Sesshomaru quietly as she eyed the old woman on the other side of the room who was watching the two of them closely.

Sesshomaru nodded in agreement as he too stole a quick glance at their "Overseer", and continued to sip his sake.

"Does that mean you'll help me hide her body?" she whispered as she took a bite of her rice, giving the woman a sweet smile.

"No"

"But you want her gone, right?"

"Yes"

"Well I could, and would, make that happen if only you would let me."

Sesshomaru shot her a quick disapproving glare as one of the other servant women came to remove her empty dishes and poured Sesshomaru more drink.

"How big is this wedding going to be exactly?" Takara finally gained the nerve to ask him and she waited patiently as he eyed her before he responded.

"Why do you ask?"

She gave him a little shrug. "I just don't like large groups of people, especially ones I don't know." He didn't interrupt so she continued. "I didn't say anything earlier because I was afraid you would get the wrong impression, but would it be alright if we kept this small and quiet?"

"What impression did you think I would get?"

"I thought that you might think I was trying to hide the fact that we're going to be married, that I was ashamed or embarrassed to marry you, which I'm not so you know. I just want it to be us."

Takara carefully watched for any signs of him getting upset, but all she saw was a brief glimmer of amusement in his eyes before his typical emotionless façade fell back into place. She hoped he would agree to this, but then again, times were different and he may have been concerned that the size of the wedding meant more to him than what she saw it to be.

"You understand that this would mean that the ceremony would be moved up a few weeks?" he asked, eyeing Ayako again. Takara nodded and she felt her heartbeat quicken. That meant she would finally give her virginity over to Sesshomaru and she flushed in embarrassment at her own thoughts. She couldn't help but to wonder what it would be like and realized that this was a far different situation than her dream wedding back in her own time.

In her own time she would have had a huge western wedding, despite her aversion to large crowds and her husband would have been opposite to Sesshomaru in personality, but as good looking as a person could get. Her ideal wedding had been the typical modern girl wedding, but as she sat back in this time period, months of planning seemed pointless, large gatherings of people took a lot more to oversee, and the creepy old lady in the corner only helped her wish to speed things up.

Her only regret about this whole thing was her family. She wished she could let them know that she was alright and happy. She wished her father could meet Sesshomaru, not that she cared if he approved or not, but she hoped that if he had been able to meet her demon fiancé that it would be obvious how well she was and would be taken care of. It hurt her to think that her father wouldn't be able to give them his blessings, but she would be happy in the knowledge that so long as she was sure of her decision, so too would he.

A distant yet familiar roar broke the silence echoed by second familiar voice. With a smile, Takara stood and quickly exited the palace as she watched the skies for signs of her friends and in no time she heard a villager scream as the two dragons came into view, both Yolheimin and Sahloknir landing in the courtyard of the palace.

Her smile still in place, Takara descended the steps of the palace and made her way towards her two dragon companions. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as a group of armed villagers paused in awe at the gate of the palace, their weapons lowered as they watched their lady-to-be stroke each of the large dragons' head.

"I spoke to the woman in the village, Vulombrii. She seems to be under the impression that you are soon to be married." Sahloknir spoke, his voice heavy in a feigned grief.

"That's because I am." She told him with a laugh as she hugged his snout.

"You have agreed to marriage without first letting us meet the male?" Yolheimin questioned with a grin. It was like they had felt what she had worried about, but if they had spoken with Kagome, then she had probably been the one to mention the whole thing. She felt a few tears come to her eyes as the two of them offered to assume the role her father would have normally taken on.

Quickly blinking her tears away, she looked over her shoulder to find Sesshomaru standing casually on the porch of the mansion, completely at ease with the two large beasts in his courtyard. Ayako wasn't nearly so calm as she trembled where she stood behind Sesshomaru.

She hurried over to Sesshomaru and pulled him back over to the dragons, while the old woman collapsed on the floor in terror. "You've both met him briefly before" Takara told the dragons. "Sahloknir and Yolheimin, this is Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru, Yolheimin and Sahloknir." To her surprise, Sesshomaru gave each of them a nod, more of a greeting than she had ever expected from him.

"Since her bormah, her father is unable to be present, both Yolheimin and I have decided to take his place and entrust you with Vulombrii." Sahloknir spoke.

"I understand that you are a powerful demon, but should you bring harm to our briinah, our sister, Zu fent nir hio ahrk hio fen bolog fah dinok. I shall hunt you and you will beg for death." Yolheimin told him and Takara was worried about how Sesshomaru would react to that threat, but the dragon quickly looked to her. "The Kagome girl said there are typically threats passed to the male to ensure the female is cared for…" he paused as he leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "Was that a good enough threat or should I try again?" Takara couldn't help but laugh and hug the dragon again. "That was better than my dad would have done. He would have left it at "or else…" and let someone else fill in the blank."

With that she felt the small amount of tension that had seeped into Sesshomaru recede once he realized that they were attempting to fill the role of her father. He even invited them to the small ceremony they would be having, nearly giving Takara a heart attack when he announced that it would be held in a week. _He's really got to stop doing that…_

Kagome had arrived the day before the ceremony with the entire group in tow including a smug looking InuYasha. It seemed that the half demon was going to have a fun time reminding his older brother about how he had despised humans (he was about to marry one) and half demons ( he had promised her many), but reluctantly agreed to wait until after the wedding and once they had been married for some time.

Rin was probably more thrilled than anyone else. In her eyes, Takara marrying Sesshomaru meant that Takara would never have to return to her old world. She would be around forever just like Lord Sesshomaru in her eyes. It seemed that once her friends were married off later in the year, she would be coming to live with them- to help take care of the babies as she told them.

"It's a little early to be thinking about that, isn't it Rin?" Takara asked, her face flushed.

The little girl shook her head no. "Miroku and Sango had their two girls right away."

Things were too simple in the little girl's eyes, but Takara envied her that. Miroku and Sango had been trying for children, but with Sesshomaru, he would be able to tell when she could conceive by her scent, which also meant that he could decide when to avoid conception. It was all up to him when they would have children, if any.

"Let's just get through tomorrow first, Rin" Takara told the little girl who happily went on to change the subject.

The rest of the day was spent in its normal fashion with a little more focus on cleaning the mansion as well as moving Takara's things into a room near Sesshomaru's. Everything was going smoothly but Takara still had butterflies in her stomach. While she was beyond thrilled to finally marry Sesshomaru, the speed in which things were going was making her a little dizzy.

"Look at things this way" Kagome had told her once Takara had confided in her "In this time, this is normal. Don't worry about things that are out of your hands."

Sahloknir and Yolheimin returned that evening and much to the relief of the mansion's staff, remained in their human forms. Even though she had wanted to spend some time in their company, Ayako had shooed her into her rooms to ensure she rested enough for the following day and that she didn't get any ideas about sneaking into Sesshomaru's chambers.

She was of mind to do just that purely out of spite of the annoying woman, but refrained. Tomorrow she would be permitted in his chambers whenever she wished and there was nothing the woman could do to stop her.

Sleep didn't come easy to her that night, and in the brief moments of sleep she was able to capture, her dreams were of Sesshomaru and the following day. She wished she was able to sleep, but then her thoughts would go to her future husband and wondered what he was thinking about and if he slept. He had revealed to her a while back that he had no need to sleep, but occasionally chose to. Was he as restless as she was? It was late into the night when Takara finally found sleep.

Sesshomaru sat in his chambers listening to the quiet sounds of the castle, and from where he sat he could hear his future wife tossing and turning in her bed, her soft sighs calling to him. Gods above, did he love to hear her breathy sighs and wish that he had been the one to cause them. The sound of her restlessness filled him with a sense of longing. Kimiko had also acted such after he had promised to steal her away, but unlike her, the only family he had to worry about with Takara were the two dragons, creatures that he could easily deal with, but also that she would be able to defend herself.

Somewhere deep down he wondered if Kimiko hated him for living when she had not, for failing her as a mate. Many years ago, if he had asked himself that question he was sure the answer would have been 'yes', but after meeting Takara so similar yet so different from his deceased mate, his thoughts had changed. Neither of them would resent him in such a manner for they both possessed caring hearts that even out shown most other mortals. With that thought, he lifted his cup of sake and drank in memory of Kimiko while looking forward to life with Takara.

To say that Takara wasn't nervous as the servant women dressed her in a pure white wedding kimono would have been nothing short of a lie. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, her hands were sweating, and she feared she would break out in hives at how nervous she was. Kagome, Sango and Rin were more than entertained with how frightened she seemed. "Thinking about running away?" Sango teased.

"I did" Takara gave her the quick answer.

Confused the women looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

Takara shrugged. "I know a shout to slow time and even with that, Sesshomaru is still faster than me."

While her friends and the younger servant girls giggled, Ayako frowned disapprovingly. "You should not spin such wild tales on your wedding day. No one can slow time with their voice."

Takara felt her nervousness vanishing as she turned to glare at the old woman, who seemed so comfortable scolding her. While Takara had never intended to use her position as Sesshomaru's wife against anyone, she felt that it was the better way to deal with this situation as opposed to demonstrating the Unrelenting Force shout on her.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Takara asked calmly, her voice stern.

"I am simply saying that such a thing is not possible." The woman argued, her calm attitude faltering a bit.

"So you are simply calling your Lord's bride a liar?"

The woman's face paled considerably once things were put in that perspective and bowed low while apologizing for offending her, dismissing herself from the room.

Kagome smiled at her and Takara shrugged "They say space travel isn't possible either, but give it a few hundred years." With that remark the women laughed and Takara could feel the tension leaving her… at least until a servant came to announce that everything was ready.

The crowd had gathered outside behind the mansion under the outside pavilion. There were more people than she had expected, but she wasn't overwhelmed at least. Yolheimin and Sahloknir came up beside her and each of them took an arm and Takara couldn't help but smile as they lead her through the crowd towards the covered pavilion. "If you wish to change your mind, Vulombrii, and come with me now would be the time. Yolheimin will even distract him so that I may escape with you." Sahloknir told her softly with a wide grin on his face.

"I'll do no such thing." Yolheimin whispered back and Takara had to fight hard not to laugh at them.

She did everything in her power to avoid looking to where she knew Sesshomaru was standing, afraid she would bolt from her nerves. She observed the crowd and saw that it mostly consisted of her friends and then several of the village elders. However to her left there was a small group of people she didn't recognize sitting towards the front of the crowd on Sesshomaru's side of the gathering. From what she could tell, they were demons and she hoped that there wouldn't be any bloodshed at their wedding. She had never seen them before, but she guess that Sesshomaru had invited them and calmed slightly at that thought.

Finally she allowed her eyes to stray to Sesshomaru and tried not to stare at how handsome he appeared in a formal kimono, the black and grey silks making his silver hair and demon markings stand out more and to Takara he was without a doubt the most handsome creature she had ever seen in that moment. Sitting behind him was a woman that looked so similar to him Takara knew as soon as her blue eyes met the woman's emotionless amber eyes that she was Sesshomaru's mother and she was just as beautiful as her son with her demon looks and silver hair. In the back of her mind, Takara wondered what this woman thought about her son marrying a mortal, but as she finally made it to the altar where the villager's headman waited with a priest she could only focus on what she was supposed to do.

After spending so much time with him over the past few months, Takara was able to tell the differences in Sesshomaru's extremely subtle mood changes and did everything in her power to avoid laughing when she realized how bored and annoyed he was. True most women knowing that their husbands felt that way during the marriage ceremony would have been offended, but not her. She knew and understood that this was a pointless ceremony for demons who did not wed, but mated. He was simply doing this for her, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

In fact once the priest began the 'purification' ritual Takara more than amused with the thought of the humble old priest 'purifying' Sesshomaru.

When the time came to share the sake, Takara's hands trembled a bit, but thankfully was able to pass the rice wine to Sesshomaru without incident.

Her vows were simple, to him with the promises of that a woman of this time should make to her husband, and even managed to get out the part about fulfilling her 'duties' as his wife and serving him well. That had been a bit painful and she could tell by the amused look in his eyes that he knew just how difficult those words had been for her.

While her vows were simple, his was even more so, but those five word meant more to her than anyone else gathered there today.

"I will not fail you."

Takara knew with those words that he was not only remembering his first love, but also that he knew protecting for her and caring for her were well within his grasp this time and he would not fall short this time.

From the back of the crowd, as soon as the priest had announced them husband and wife, a man ran around the mansion and while Takara wondered where he had gone, but a few moments later as Sesshomaru led her away from the altar and a loud cheer erupted from the village she figured out that he had been sent to announce their marriage.

With a smile, Kagome, Rin, and Sango led her back into the mansion to change out of her wedding kimono and into another, more colorful one, but before they could even get the kimono off, Sesshomaru's mother entered the room with a servant woman following her.

Out of respect, Takara gave her a low bow which the demoness returned. "I wish to have a private word with my son's bride." She spoke to the other women, who at Takara's nod bowed and left the room.

As soon as they were alone, the she demon circled Takara looking her up and down before her hand finally came out to lift her chin. They both silently observed the other and it was the lady demon who spoke first. "I can see why my son was ensnared by you." She dropped her hand and stepped back. "You are beautiful and seem to have more spirit than most other young women your age, but I cannot understand why you would so happily wed a demon. Are there not human lords who have grabbed your eye?"

Takara didn't understand where she was taking this so she answered her honestly.

"I'm afraid not, my Lady. I admit that I had no lack of proposals, but none of them could compare to your son, as I'm sure you know." The demoness smiled and nodded as she continued to listen. "When I first met your son, he insulted me and told me to go home. He didn't swoon or coddle me like the other men and yet I felt privileged to have his attention and somehow we grew fond of one another."

"You know about his first mate?" the demoness questioned, seeing if she could get Takara to falter.

"I do. Knowing that I look like her made me very unsure of his intentions in the beginning. I was afraid that he wanted me as a replacement for her, but I've come to realize that she and I aren't the same to him."

The demoness narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. "And why do you think that?"

"If not for the reason that he assured me that we weren't similar than for the simple fact that I would and will do everything within my powers to protect him and myself to ensure that he does not suffer like that again. I will fight where she would not." Takara was never more sure of her words then at that moment.

A long silence stretched between them before a slight smile graced the she demon's beautiful face. "Then you have my blessings. Do not make my son unhappy."

Takara nodded to her before her mother-in-law called in the servant she had brought with her along with Kagome, Sango, and Rin. The servant finally set down the package she had been holding on the low table in the room and opened it to reveal a bright red kimono with pure white dogs scattered about here and there with gold hexagons surrounding each dog. "A gift" the demoness spoke. "I think it suits you." Takara bowed low again and thanked her before the woman turned and left the room while Takara changed into the new kimono.

"Alright, let's go find your husband." Kagome told her, leading Takara out of the room that would no longer be hers to stay in. From tonight on she would sleep with Sesshomaru in his bed.


	17. First Night

**Lessons Learned**

**Author Shortey 83**

**Chapter 16 First Night**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^**

**Story Start:**

It seemed that despite Sesshomaru's intentions to keep their wedding small, the entire village had decided to celebrate their marriage. From where she sat she could hear the small town had erupted into celebration and smiled.

"You know why they're celebrating, don't you?" she whispered as she leaned into Sesshomaru.

"Our marriage, I suppose" he answered, but he didn't bother to try and hide his words as his eyes watched over his guests who were eating and talking amongst themselves.

"Nope. They are happy a young maiden has sacrificed herself to their demon lord and it wasn't one of their own."

She couldn't help but giggle as he shot her an irritated glance.

"Don't glare at me. You know it's true for some of them."

He simply looked away and watched the crowd again, and she knew then that she was right. It seemed that a few of the villagers were still wary of their lord despite all he had done for them and that honestly upset Takara, but then again; no one would ever know Sesshomaru like she did.

It hadn't been long before Sesshomaru's mother excused herself. She had pulled Sesshomaru away for a private word, to which he came back from indifferent, so Takara guessed whatever she had said hadn't consisted of threats or a scolding. With that his mother bid them both farewell and left in the company of her demon guards.

"If you don't mind my asking, what did she say to you?" Takara asked watching the graceful she demon leave.

"She approves of you, despite being mortal." He glanced her way and she could see that subtle hint of adoration in his amber eyes. "When she arrived, I explained your abilities to her so she now sees you as more than a mere human, but she needed to speak with you herself." His eyes roamed over her new kimono. "I don't know what you said to her, but it must have impressed her. My father gave her that kimono."

Takara gawked at him, but before she could speak he added. "Do not worry. She was honored that you would wear it the day of our wedding."

She gave him a sheepish grin and he leaned down closer to her, "She also threatened to disown me if we do not soon provide her with grandchildren to spoil and indulge."

There went her poor heart again.

"And you told her that it would be a while before that happened right?"

"You wish my mother to disown me?"

"Would she?"

"Without hesitation"

Takara sighed as a flush crept onto her cheeks, a glance out the corner of her eye told her that Kagome and InuYasha were watching her very closely. She could only suspect that the two of them were imagining what Sesshomaru was speaking to her so softly about. The fact that her friends were imagining Sesshomaru saying dirty things to her brought a more immediate matter to her attention.

"Well if you want to start practicing anytime tonight, this mansion better be empty of everyone else before you expect to get me into bed."

A simple "hnn" was the only response she got. Takara wasn't too sure that he took her seriously, but as the evening began to wind down, the festival in the village also began to disperse. While Takara spoke with Kagome, Sango and Rin, Sesshomaru was speaking to the village elders, InuYasha and Miroku and she wondered what he was telling them. It didn't seem fair that he could hear every word that she and the women had, but she was unable to do the same.

Kagome seemed to have a solution to that and pulled her much further away from the crowd, back to the waterfall. "Sesshomaru will have a hard time hearing over the water" she explained, leaning in to speak into her ear. "I just thought I might give you some… pointers…"

"Kagome, can we please not have this conversation? I'm already about to have a panic attack."

"I know, it's embarrassing for me too, but with him being a demon and InuYasha being half demon, I thought it might help you understand his behavior… during _that_ time."

Takara sighed. She did have a point. "Alright, but please don't get too graphic with the details."

"First off there's the growling, but I'm pretty sure you know about that." When Takara nodded, she continued. "Well, if he becomes overly excited, his inner demon will probably show itself a bit. Even with InuYasha being a half demon, when it gets…." She paused when Takara shot her a small glare "… intense… his will show. When it does, whatever you do, do not challenge him in any way; don't hold eye contact, don't disobey him if he tells you to do something, nothing of that sort. If he gets in that mindset, submit." Kagome shrugged at Takara's wary glance. "He won't hurt you, but he will torment you until you do submit, although Sesshomaru probably has more control over his inner demon." Takara nodded, after all it made more sense that he would. "I think the last pointer I should give you is the biting." Takara raised her brows. She didn't mind Sesshomaru's little nips, but biting? That was an entirely different matter.

"When he… I'm sorry… for lack of a better word… when he mounts you for the first time, he'll bite you, probably on the shoulder. Don't look at me like that!" Takara wasn't sure if the blood wanted to rush to her face in a furious blush or drain from it at the thought of Sesshomaru's fangs sinking into her shoulder. "The bite is a demon's way of marking their mate, like rings in our time. It tells other demons that you're his and his alone. He might bite that same place in the future when you mate, but trust me…" Kagome shivered at her own thoughts. "It's an amazing sensation, but you'll find out later. Here he comes and don't look so worried." She placed her hands on Takara's upper arms and pulled her in for a hug. "Just remember, you know he would never hurt you intentionally. The only thing you need to worry about for pain involved with him are your first few couplings, the bite, and any children you might have." When Kagome pulled away, Takara eased with the sincerity in her eyes. "He might be different from his brother in most ways, but if for nothing more than the dog demon in them, they are very caring mates."

With those words of encouragement, Kagome turned and headed over to where InuYasha waited, but paused halfway and turned back. "I guess this means we're sisters now!" she shouted, laughing when both Sesshomaru and InuYasha shot her dirty looks. It seemed that the two of them still didn't see eye to eye on that matter at least. With that she watched them round the mansion, leaving her alone with her… would she ever get used to the word… husband.

"We shall retire for the evening," he told her, pulling her against him, his arm wrapping around her lower back while the other tilted her chin up to capture her lips in a kiss. "Go to your rooms." Sesshomaru told her softly. "There are two women waiting to help you out of your kimono. When you are ready, come to my chambers."

With a nod, Takara did as he said, but paused half way to the mansion and faced him with a smile on her face. "What if I'm not ready until tomorrow?" Her response was an angry glare and a slight barring of fangs. He didn't need to speak. Takara was crystal clear on how he felt about that and with a laugh finally made her way into the mansion.

Just as Sesshomaru had said, there were two servant women waiting to help her out of her kimono and into her yukata.

Takara didn't know how long she sat in the silence of her room with only her thoughts. _This is it…_ she thought with a sigh. _After tonight there's no going back…_ She didn't care about her possessions back in her time, the goals she had set, the ideal life she had planned- none of that mattered to her now. It was her family and friends that mattered. She had told herself time and again that so long as she was happy, her family would be as well, but was that truly the case? Would they disapprove of Sesshomaru despite how she felt?

She decided. It didn't matter.

It was her life either way, and while she would have preferred to have their well wishes, she didn't need them. All she needed was the demon she had married; the demon currently waiting for her. Despite her nervousness, she was confident that if she chickened out tonight, her new husband would do one of two things; wait until she was ready or… convince her. Once she thought on that she decided to toss out the first option. Sesshomaru could be very persuasive.

She had been given a room a few away from Sesshomaru. Ayako had told her that she would stay there when Sesshomaru needed time to himself, male visitors to entertain, or something of that nature, but after asking Sesshomaru his opinion on the matter he informed her that was the typical custom for this era. However, he also informed her that she would very rarely make use of that room, if at all. He made it very clear that she belonged in his bed, and that was where she would be.

Night had fallen over the mansion and only the sounds of the waterfall and the night insects broke the silence of night. It seemed that even the village had fallen silent to give Sesshomaru and herself privacy. A few candles lit the hall as she walked to Sesshomaru's room and slid the door open softly to find him in his typical spot with the outer screen door open starring out to the waterfall, his back to her.

His calm aura affected her too and she smiled softly as she went to sit beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. He moved then, pulling her into his lap, leaning her head against his shoulder once more.

"What kept you?" he asked finally looking down to her, but she didn't meet his eyes.

"I'm just a little nervous and I sort of had to put things into perspective." She answered in a soft voice.

"What kind of perspective?"

Takara shrugged "There's no going back now, not that I would, but I just miss my family. That's all."

Sesshomaru was silent for a moment before he stood effortlessly with her in his arms, and headed back into the room, lying her down on the futon and coming down over her, his larger body covering her. "You now belong here with me." He told her, his face pressed against the soft flesh of her throat. "Perhaps once you have had a few of my pups, you will be too busy with our family to be sad over your old one."

In that moment, Takara couldn't help but fall further in love with him, smiling as she gently moved him to face her. "That's a good plan." With that, Sesshomaru leaned in to kiss her and she responded with unbridled passion. She knew she had made the right choice.

Gentle coaxing slowly blossomed into a heated battle of wills as they each sought to dominate the kiss, but before too long Takara surrendered to him and he rewarded her with a series of kisses, licks, and gentle bites down the column of her throat until he paused at the barrier of her yukata.

She heard the crack of his claws lengthening a moment before a brief tug was felt at her midsection and his rough, callused hand was gliding across the flesh of her abdomen, parting the folds of her yukata exposing her heated flesh to the cool night air.

His amber eyes finally left her blue ones as his gaze roamed over her naked body and a soft growl escaped him. "Beautiful" his voice was tinged with a soft growl as he leaned down and captured the stiff peak of her breast in his hot mouth.

Takara gasped at the sensation, gripping his head, her fingers tangled in the silver strands desperately attempt him to keep him where he was.

Her soft moans were music to his ears.

Sesshomaru couldn't help but growl at the sweet taste of her soft flesh, the sound of her soft moans and sighs, the feel of her blunt nails dragging lightly across his scalp. By the gods, she was everything he knew she would be. Her innocent and open expressions were not hidden out of embarrassment like Kimiko's had been. No Takara would never be her and in that moment he realized that he could not continue to compare the two of them. What had excited his first mate wouldn't necessarily please his current one.

He looked forward to learning the secrets of her body. _I wonder…_

Sesshomaru didn't remain latched to her breasts for long. While he had sucked and licked one, he had brought a hand up to massage the other, switching between them a few times- each pull of his mouth, sent an agonizingly sweet pull to her core.

Takara moved under him, pulling her knees tightly together as she sought to alleviate the strange sensation that had begun throb at the apex of her thighs and she could feel a slickness beginning to dampen her inner thighs. As Sesshomaru lavished her breast with attention, she could feel the wetness begin to drip down her thighs like honey and she wasn't too sure if she wanted him to stop or not.

Then he began to descend lower, his fangs raking down her skin every few inches as he continued to torment her with his wicked mouth. Finally he looked up and met her eyes briefly before he looked down and finally unfolded the lower half of her yukata, exposing her to him from the hips down now leaving her bare, all but her arms still in the sleeves of her robe.

One of his hands, claws now retracted, slipped between her thighs, the smooth flesh rubbing deliciously against his sword roughened hands. His rough hand slipped higher, parting her legs further, cupping her sex in his large hand. Her breaths quickened as his other hand grabbed a knee pushed it higher and opened it even wider before telling her to position her other leg as such. A flush continued to stain her cheeks as his hungry gaze locked onto her completely exposed, untouched sex as he licked his lips in anticipation

She wanted to protest in embarrassment as he settled his large body between her legs, gently shifting them to rest on his shoulders, but all she could manage to do was bring her hand to her mouth and bite down nervously on a knuckle. Takara's face burned red in embarrassment as his hot breath fanned her exposed sex and she trembled.

"Relax, my treasure." He told her as he gently bit her inner thigh. "You will enjoy this."

Before she could question him, his tongue had delved between the slick folds of her sex and across her clit, lapping at her feminine honey. A loud moan couldn't be contained as Sesshomaru continued to assault her sex with his mouth, lips, tongue and fangs- all of them used to bring her a pleasure she had never known. Takara was in sensation overload in a matter of seconds. It was as if he knew exactly where to lick her, where to slide his fangs across, and when to do it all to bring her the greatest pleasure she had ever felt.

She gasped when she felt his hands come up and spread the lips of her sex further open before she felt his tongue delve into her core, seeking more of her nectar. The hand that had been trapped in her mouth to quiet her was released and moved to grip the bedding while the other tangled in Sesshomaru's silvery white hair, pulling his head tighter against her sex as she pressed her lower body closer to his wicked mouth.

"Sesshomaru…" she beseeched him as he paused his attention and looked up to her watching her body arch and write with pleasure, so innocent and open. He smirked nuzzled his face against her sex, inhaling her aroused scent. He smirked when he heard her whimper and felt a slight tug on his hair. The blood began rushing to his cock even faster once she looked down to him, her soft blue eyes darkened with pleasure. "Have you ever pleasured yourself?" he asked kissing her inner thigh. Had her face not already been flushed in passion, Sesshomaru felt that it would have stained red as she lowered her eyes.

"No" was her soft answer.

He cocked his head to the side. "Why not? You seem to enjoy this." Her shoulders shrugged. "I lived with my dad and my older brothers, and being the only girl in the house… Let's just say my brothers have no concept of privacy. I had to get changed in a different room with a locked door just so they didn't barge in so…" She trailed off and Sesshomaru understood. She never had the privacy that human women needed to discover their sexuality. Now it was his responsibility as her mate to help her discover her sexuality, what brings her the greatest pleasure, and understand what it means to be a mate.

"I shall teach you, my treasure. I shall help you discover what you need for pleasure only _I_ may give to you." He growled. He would be the only one she sought pleasure with.

"I don't want anyone else, Sesshomaru" she breathed, yelping when he bit her thigh harder.

"This includes you as well. You shall not seek to pleasure yourself once we mate. My mate will never have the need to reduce herself to self-pleasure." Before she could respond, he dipped his head back between her thighs, sucking her pleasure bud between her lips to hold it captive to his attention as a finger sought to tease her entrance. Again his name left her lips in a cry as a single digit entered her virgin depths, feeling her slick, tight walls quivering in time with the pulls of his mouth.

Her legs moved and her heels dug into his upper back just below his shoulder blades. Her thighs tightened against his head, tightly squeezing it as her hips began to grind against his face, but a strong hand pushed her down to the futon, preventing her from moving. Turning his hand, the finger inside her tightened passage searched until he found the rough, nerve covered spot amidst her silken walls and assaulted it relentlessly.

Sesshomaru held her at his mercy, her hips practically pinned to the futon with the iron grip of his arm, his lips sucking her delicate pearl, and his rough fingertip rubbing that spot inside her sent Takara into a sensory overload, the coiling sensation she had felt tightening and tightening finally snapped, dumping her into an abyss of ecstasy as she achieved her climax.

As her sex tightened around Sesshomaru's finger, she felt him force another into her massaging passage, heightening the sensation even further.

As she panted, recovering from her climax, Takara looked down between her thighs to find Sesshomaru watching her; his eyes beginning to glow a deadly red around their rim. Gently but quickly he moved her thighs from his shoulders and sat up, removing his fingers from her quacking depths before licking them clean of her fluids. There was something about the way he looked at her with his predatory gaze, her first climax already sacrificed to his fiendish mouth.

Slowly he removed his haori and tossing it aside baring his strong chest to her and Takara's gaze was held captive as he then reached for the tie of his hakama to loosen it.

"Forgive my eagerness, beloved" he told her as he came down over her, caging her under his larger body "But if I continue to play with you like this, I may lose control." Takara thought on that for a moment as she slid his hakama down his hips and thighs before he kicked them off.

She shivered, feeling the evidence of his eagerness, hot and steel hard against her thigh. Settling in above her, Sesshomaru adjusted her legs, spreading them wider to accommodate his hips, one hand resting on the curve of her hip while the other tangled in her hair, his arm wrapped underneath hers, at the base of her head, gripping it tightly before he leaned down, his hot breath against her ear. She felt him move, the head of his cock pressed against the wet entrance of her sex.

"Are you ready?" he asked, his voice a growl before he licked the hollow below her ear. She wrapped one arm around his neck while the other gripped his back tightly.

"No"

The growl she received was hard to understand. She couldn't tell if it was anger or frustration, but either way, he paused, pulling his cock away from her entrance and leaning back to look at her face. "You had better not have changed your mind." He practically snarled and she smiled at him, trying so hard to reign in himself.

"I am ready, but not this way…" she explained with a blush. Again he cocked his head to the side and studied her- a silent cue for her to continue. "The past few months, you have gone by human custom, courting and marrying me, but we both know that you're a demon." She moved out from under him and sat up, waiting until he followed suit.

"I know this. Is it not what you wanted?"

Takara smiled as she leaned in to kiss him, pulling back before he could deepen it. "It's exactly what I wanted, but I never forgot that I was marrying a demon not a human." She turned, presenting him with her back as she pulled her long, black hair over her right shoulder and looked back at him over her left.

Understanding dawned in his eyes as lust danced across them before he tried to cover his eyes with their usual blankness. "It will be more painful for you this way, Takara. You are too tight." He argued with her and her gaze dropped to his erection and it took everything in her power not to tremble at the sight of it; long, thick, and steel hard.

"I know, but what have you done these past few months if not sacrificed your patience? Even I know how irritating I can be." She shrugged, her smile never faltering. "I know what I'm asking, Sesshomaru, and I know it will hurt, but…" She trailed off looking away from him.

"But?..."

"It's alright. This whole time I knew that I didn't just marry a human man. You're not. Of course I wanted the human experience of being married, but there is something I wanted more."

She felt him move closer, his hands touching where he could reach before she finally looked back into those red tinted, molten amber eyes. "I've had the marriage ceremony, so I don't want to give myself to my husband on our wedding night. What I want is to be claimed by my demon mate."

In that moment, Sesshomaru smirked, before allowing his eyes to bleed to red. "This is what you want?" Takara nodded. "I just want you, Sesshomaru."

"Then you're going to get me. All fours."

Takara shivered in anticipation as she moved into position, his much hotter body coming up behind her. He growled continuously as he adjusted her stance- spreading her legs wider, pushing down between her shoulder blades to force her upper body weight to rest on her forearms her back arched more dramatically. Finally she felt him settle in behind her, his legs pressed against her own, his large hands on her hips.

"I do not wish to cause you pain." He told her even as the hot crown of his member pressed against her sex. "Tell me if you wish to stop and change our position and I will try."

She smiled at that. _He'll try to stop. Meaning he wants this bad enough to where he may not be able to…_ "Alright" she whispered, gripping the futon tightly in her hands and dropping her head. Taking a breath she braced herself, listening to him behind her, growls in time with his breath before she heard him exhale loudly.

She felt his hold on her hips tighten, his cock retreat slightly, and then he moved.

In a single strong thrust, Sesshomaru had penetrated her virgin sex with his sizable cock, causing Takara to yelp in pain as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. Even as she whimpered from the pain of his invasion part of her reveled as he roared in triumph behind her. She winced as he slowly pulled back out only to slam himself back in, repeating this a few times while she adjusted to the subjugation his body demanded of hers.

"You are Mine!" he growled as the rhythm of his hips increased in tempo. "Mine to mate with. Mine to breed with, and Mine to protect."

This time the tears that slipped from her eyes weren't tears of pain, but happiness. "Always Yours" she moaned as pain slowly gave way to pleasure. When those words left her lips, Takara felt him changing position, his rhythm never faltering. One by one, he lifted his legs to settle on the outside of hers while his ankles crossed back over her calves holding them in place, then he lowered his upper body until his forearms rested on either side of hers, his large hands locking over her wrists, caging her.

Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't escape him now. Her arms and legs were pinned to the futon by his larger and much stronger ones. All she could do was take what he had to give her as he drove relentlessly into her silken depths like the crazed beast he had become and Takara loved every second of it. To say there was no pain would have been a lie, the sheer power of his thrusts hurt not to mention how his large size stretched her virgin sheath to its limits, but this is what she wanted. She wanted to feel the pain as he took her because it would serve as a reminder of not only all she had given up but also what she had gained. The hurt and tears were for the life she had lost in her world, the pleasure and adoration were for Sesshomaru and this new world.

"Takara…?" he growled roughly in her ear and she looked to him. She could see the turquoise of his eyes fading back to amber and she knew he was trying to regain his control. She could only moan in response before she began to move underneath him, roughly shoving back to meet his thrusts, demanding more.

Her response must have eased him because turquoise covered his amber irises and she watched as his fangs lengthen his mouth moved to her shoulder. Even as her body sought the pleasure he was bringing her, she knew what was coming. She could feel his demonic aura sizzling against her skin where they touched, heightening her pleasure until it spilled over.

Her climax was brutal, her vision clouded in a web of black as she clamped down on his plowing cock like a vice. As his name left her lips in a cry of ecstasy, she felt his fangs pierce her shoulder, holding her tightly. Even as his fangs were buried in the flesh of her shoulder, Sesshomaru snarled as he reached his own completion and Takara could feel his hot seed pouring into her even as a strange pressure began to press against her trembling walls.

She felt Sesshomaru tense above her as he abruptly pulled back only causing her to yelp when he tried to pull out of her body, but couldn't. His teeth released her shoulder and his hands released her wrists as he leaned up and gripped her hips.

"Damn" Takara heard him curse before he leaned back down, his chest pressing against her back as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Try and be very still, Takara" he told her before rolling them on their sides.

Confused she went to turn to face him, but his iron grip on her hips tightened preventing her from turning. "Don't" he told her softly as he began licking her shoulder where he had bitten her. "It will be a short while before we can separate." Stunned, she lifted her leg and brought it back to rest on his and tried to look down. "You mean we're…?" she began with a bit of disbelief in her voice.

"Tied? Yes. I'm afraid I got carried away." He answered her simply.

"Like a dog?"

She heard him sigh "Have you forgotten I am a dog demon?"

"So what if I…?" she trailed off, and wiggled her hips a bit, feeling how tightly he was locked inside her and winced a bit. "Definitely a tight fit…" she said as his hold tightened further.

"Be still" he told her, but she didn't pay him any attention as she reached down, feeling between her legs.

As she leaned slightly forward to reach down, she could feel how full he had filled her, but now she could feel where he had swelled to stay locked inside her. She slipped her hand down, his shaft between her second and third finger and she could feel his knot just inside her sex.

"That's kind of cool" she whispered more to herself.

"When my body is warmer that yours?"

Takara laughed. "I meant that's kind of amazing. Cool is slang in my world for neat, amazing, awesome; you get it?"

He didn't respond at first but continued to lick the wound at her shoulder. "I didn't injure you, did I?" he asked a moment later.

Takara shook her head. "No but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow." She looked back at him over her shoulder. "But it was well worth it." He leaned down to give her a gentle kiss which she broke away from with a yawn.

"Sleep, my mate, you need rest after our joining." He told her, reaching behind his back and pulling his fur to cover them.

Takara couldn't help but do just that as her eye lids became heavy in the afterglow of sex, her body still humming with pleasure. "How long?" she asked as sleep crept up on her quickly.

"For…?" he asked while his hand ran up and down the curve of her waist.

"Until you stop swelling?"

"Does it cause you discomfort?"

"No I just want to sleep facing you." She yawned.

"Then I shall assure you shall wake up as such in the morning."

Takara knew nothing else after that.


End file.
